Once I Knew You
by DJNS
Summary: Danny and Lacey have memories of a past life together. A Tuha-Dacey fic.
1. Prologue

**A/N: So I actually had no intention of writing a Tuha-Dacey fic at all but then my good friend, PurpleRose4, presented me with this incredible idea and it wouldn't leave me alone. So then, this fic was born. This is the only part I've written for it so far but the entire thing is outlined so I definitely know where I'm going. Just some forewarning that initial updates might not be so fast.**

 **As always, thanks for reading.**

* * *

 **Prologue**

"That duplicitous son of a bitch!"

The outburst elicited an appalled gasp from every person present within the conference room. The sounds reverberated through the silence that followed Tara Desai's uncharacteristic show of temper. At twenty-seven years of age, the woman rarely, _if ever_ , lost her composure. She was renowned for her cool, methodical poise when under pressure. She never raised her voice. She didn't have to. One chilling glance from her piercing, whiskey colored eyes was enough to cow even the most intrepid of adversaries.

She was a beautiful woman but her beauty was often overshadowed by her steely personality and ruthless drive. Her abundant, dark waves were pulled back from her face in a sleek but severe bun which as fastened at the nape of her neck. Not a single hair was ever out of place. She used makeup sparingly, just enough to maximize the glow in her earthy skin. Tara Desai had an attractiveness that was alluring but also advertised strict inaccessibility. One could look but touching was only allowed for those she deemed worthy...and among those were precious few.

Her lithe figure was concealed behind chic business jackets and pressed pencil skirts of either slate gray or deep black. She seemed adverse to color altogether. The two vanities she allowed herself were the small, diamond stud that adorned her left nostril and the sparkling ruby pendant that hung from her slender neck. It was the one gift her father had given her without restraint, the one thing that she had never had to _earn_ from him.

Those employed by her whispered that it was perhaps the contentious relationship that she had shared with her father which made her seem so cold and unfeeling. She was an automaton, a merciless taskmaster. Nothing at all could ruffle her. It was as if she had ice water pumping in her veins rather than warm, red blood. Which was all the more reason why her explosion of anger was surprising...and frightening.

Tara flexed her slim fingers against the armrest of her chair, her calculating stare trained directly on the estate attorney seated across the table. "Read it again," she ordered, her tone clipped and authoritative.

The attorney cleared his throat nervously. He supposed that he was well within his right to remind her that he was doing a formal reading of her father's will as a mere courtesy to her. No one truly sat for the reading of a will anymore. That was a dated tradition which had been born out of illiteracy and the need for a official reading centuries ago. In modern society, copies of the document were provided for the appropriate parties and that was that. However, Tara Desai was a traditionalist and, upon her father's death, she had insisted that the Desai family be gathered together to hear the last will and testament of her late father Aravinda Desai. The attorney wisely refrained from pointing any of that out to her because the glare she was giving him felt as if it might disintegrate him on the spot.

Consequently, there was a slight tremor in his voice when he replied, "I understand that this is not at all what you were expecting, Ms. Desai. But I assure you, these are the terms Aravinda stipulated prior to his death."

"Read...it...again," she said, each word enunciated through even, white teeth.

At that point, the attorney realized that he would have to be a fool to refuse her again and he was no one's fool. He read that stipulated portion of the will again.

"To my grandson, Daniel, I bequeath 80 shares in Desai Corporation and 90% of my assets, the bulk of my estate," the attorney recited, "He should receive 25% of his inheritance upon his eighteenth birthday and the remaining 75% upon his twenty-fifth birthday. My eldest child and daughter, Tara Desai, will remain as acting CEO until Daniel reaches the age of 21, at which point he should become a full board member and the acknowledged CEO of Desai Corporation."

After he was done speaking, Tara sat in ominous silence. Her only betrayal of emotion was the subtle twitching at the corners of her mouth. "So I'm to understand..." she began in a deceptively thoughtful tone, "...that my father left nearly the entirety of his estate to _a toddler_?"

Vikram Desai, Tara's younger brother by three years and the father of the aforementioned toddler, inched his fingers across the glossy surface of the conference table to cover his older sister's clenched hand. Like Tara, Vikram was also stunningly attractive but his affable nature and natural charm made him far more approachable. While Tara was feared and often hated, Vikram was genuinely liked and approved of by all who met him. Vikram had a way of disarming with his words and his friendliness. He seemed to all who knew him as a man unassuming and without ambition but that was a deliberate choice on Vikram's part. After all, how could the enemy prepare for his arrival if they never knew he was coming in the first place?

He gave his sister's fingers a reassuring squeeze. "Tara," he cajoled softly, "this doesn't have to mean anything. There's no reason to become upset over this. It's just as you said. Danny is still a child, _a baby_ really. It will be years before he's ready to assume any sort of responsibility for Desai Corp. In the meantime, you are still the CEO of this company."

She snatched her hand from his grasp. "Did you not hear the same thing I did, Vikram?" she hissed, "My position is only temporary! That old bastard screwed me yet again!"

He knew there was little use in trying to appeal to her reasoning side. Tara became a hotbed of emotions wherever their father was concerned, her bitterness stemming from long harbored insecurities that had bloomed in early childhood. She had practically spent her entire life trying to prove to Aravinda Desai that she could be the son he had always wanted. She was forever seeking his approval and forever falling short.

Vikram, on the other hand, had given up on pleasing his father only a short while after he had entered into his early twenties. By then he had accepted that he would never be the son that Aravinda imagined he should be. Like Tara, he would always be lacking in some fundamental way. The problem had lain in Vikram and Aravinda's very different personalities. Where Aravinda Desai had been calculating and shrewd, Vikram had instead been quiet and ploddingly meticulous in his actions. Vikram was almost manipulative in his efforts to get his way, using charm rather than brute displays of strength to conquer his enemies. Unfortunately, that was much too soft an approach to suit his father. He never came to appreciate his son's particular talent for winning people over.

According to Aravinda Desai, Vikram was too sentimental, too malleable, too much like his mother to carry on the strength of the Desai legacy. Vikram had always seemed to lack the single-minded ambition that had come so naturally to Tara because he did not show her same tenacious, bulldog spirit when it came to bending others to his will. In Aravinda's estimation, Vikram was the teddy bear to her tigress and that disappointing fact was something Aravinda Desai had rarely let his son forget. He often said that it was as if Vikram and Tara had switched bodies while maintaining their gender.

The one thing Vikram had done right in his father's eyes had been to marry Karen Kincaid, a very beautiful and very rich young heiress from a high powered family with whom Aravinda had hoped to create a formidable business merger. Yet, even that bit of pride over Vikram's success in wooing the young woman hadn't lasted long. Karen Desai had died shortly before Danny's second birthday in the first trimester of her second pregnancy.

As a result of the mysterious circumstances surrounding her sudden death, bitter contention and outright suspicion had existed between the Kincaid and Desai families ever since. The powerful union that Aravinda had imagined would arise from Vikram and Karen's marriage consequently fizzled into nothing. That was yet another thing Aravinda never let Vikram forget. Vikram concluded soon after that he would never find favor in his father's eyes so he decided from that moment on to seek his own interests instead.

"Don't be shortsighted in this, Tara," he advised his sister when she continued to stew, "You're failing to see how you can turn this situation to your advantage. This is an opportunity for you to teach Danny all that you know, to mentor him-,"

Tara cut him a sharpened look. "-I have no desire to mentor him!" she snapped, "Why would you even suggest such a thing? We both know he shouldn't exist at all!" Vikram had very little time to react to the cutting words before Tara's countenance relaxed abruptly into an inscrutable mask and she sucked in a deep, restorative breath. "But you're right," she said with astonishing serenity, "there's nothing to be done to change it now. Father's wishes are legal and binding and they must be respected." She turned a cool glance towards the attorney. "Thank you for your time. Please, have the copies made and faxed to my office."

As she scraped back her chair and rose to exit the conference room without another word, Vikram was left with no choice but to hastily spring from his chair as well and scurry after her. Despite his calling her name, Tara maintained her purposeful strides out of the estate attorney's office, her heels clicking sharply against the polished floor as she headed towards the elevators. Vikram caught up with her just as she reached the gleaming, chrome doors. He snagged hold of her elbow before she could punch the button for the first floor.

"Don't be this way," he urged her softly, "Talk to me."

"What is there to say?"

"Are you angry with me? Do you blame me?"

Once again, she snatched from his hold but this time her lips were curled in a subtle sneer. "Why ever would I be angry with you, little brother?"

"Because Father used me to humiliate you one final time," he said, "Because everything you worked so hard to achieve has just been given to the child I had with _her_...the child you despise."

Her lips thinned in a tight line. "It's true. It certainly doesn't please me, Vikram. Did you expect it to?"

"You have to know that I didn't choose this or ask for this," Vikram told her earnestly, "I never wanted the company, only your happiness. I certainly didn't covet it for Danny. This was all a game for Aravinda. You have to see that Danny is merely a pawn in all of this, Tara! He doesn't understand what any of it means!"

"It doesn't matter. This would have never happened if you'd never married _her_ in the first place!"

The elevator doors pinged open at that moment. Vikram seized the opportunity to take hold of Tara's hand and tug her inside in the hopes of affording them more privacy. Once they were out of the hallway, he punched the button for the top floor and then rounded to face her. Tara's aggravated protests over his actions were silenced when Vikram stepped closer to her.

His tone was low and pleading when he said, "Don't hold what happened against me, Tara. You know why I did that. You _know_ why I married her. It was for you. For _us_."

"Are you going to tell me that not even a tiny part of you wasn't hoping for his approval?" Tara challenged, "That you didn't once enjoy playing house with that insipid bitch?"

"The only approval I want is yours."

"We both know that's a lie! You weren't supposed to have a child with her at all, Vikram! That was a line that should have never been crossed!" Tara hissed, her impassive veneer slipping to reveal genuine hurt, "I made my peace with the marriage but to conceive a child with her, not once but _twice_... Really? That was never part of our agreement! I deserved better! Now we have this _situation_ on our hands and who do you think will have to clean up your mess...just like always?"

The unspoken threat in her words caused Vikram's Adam's apple to bob spasmodically with nervous dread. "It won't have to come to that," he reassured her, "I swear it. Danny is my son. He's good. He's not a threat to us, not like _she_ was."

"I've heard this argument before. You said the same thing when you first married her and look what happened. In the end, I had to intervene, didn't I? I am forever fixing your mistakes, Vikram. Even when we were children you never considered the consequences! You cannot see what a danger he is because you're too blinded by sentiment."

"Not this time. This time is different. I won't be the type of father to Daniel that Aravinda was to us! I know that if you gave him a chance, you could love him, Tara. He could be _ours_ if you let him."

She shook her head doubtfully at the proclamation. "You make far too many promises that you don't keep, Vikram."

He pulled her into his arms, undeterred by how stiffly she held herself against him. He enfolded her in his embrace nonetheless, stroking her back until she softened against him, her body aligning with his. Vikram brought his face close to her cheek, his lips glancing across her skin and his breath warm breath raising gooseflesh against it when he whispered, "Tara, you know me. You know I would do anything for you. I want you to be happy. I'll make this right."

Tara reached up to cradle his cheek in a lingering caress that was a mixture of genuine affection and disappointment. However, her touch conveyed only tenderness when she brushed a sweet, lingering kiss across his parted lips though her eyes remained stony with resolve. "I hope you truly mean that, my dear brother...because I intend to hold you to it."


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

"Well, this is it," Judy Porter announced as she brought her silver, 2010 _Volkswagen Jetta_ to a stop behind the large moving van.

Her children's reactions, however, were less than enthused. Her eldest daughter, Lacey, slid her sunglasses from her face as she alighted from the passenger's side of the car to survey her new home. "Oh my God..." she muttered in groaning consternation, "...we live in freaking Mayberry now." From directly behind her, Lacey could hear her younger sister, Clara, utter a similar sentiment when she climbed from the backseat. After two days of nearly nonstop travel, it had finally become a reality for both girls. They were most definitely a long way from their childhood home of Baltimore, Maryland.

The house wasn't awful. Not that Lacey or Clara had been overly worried about that even after they'd learned their mother had purchased it without their input. Judy Porter was an incredibly beautiful woman with eclectic tastes and the trained eye of an interior decorator. She had unparalleled instincts when it came to finding things that were pleasing to the eye and her newly purchased home in the quiet New York suburb was no exception.

It was a well-maintained colonial style home the color of summer dandelions adorned with bright, red shutters and a cobbled walkway which was surrounded on both sides by an array of colorful flowers. The grass was lush and green and obviously well kept with no evidence of bald spots or sparse growth. Definitely it was a far cry from the house Judy had inherited from her husband's mother, a place she had hated for nearly the entirety of her marriage. There were no loosened shingles on the roof, no creaky, dilapidated steps leading up to the porch and no overgrowth of wildflowers and weeds in the front lawn. This was finally a place that she could truly call her own.

Lacey could well sense her mother's excitement and she didn't want to do anything to dampen her happiness, especially in the face of recent events. In truth, she couldn't find a single thing wrong with her new residence. Everything about the house appeared perfect and pristine. Even the elements seemed to be in agreement. Despite being in the final days of summer, the typical oppressive heat was made considerably milder by the intermittent breeze that wafted through at regular intervals. The sky itself was crisp and cloudless and perhaps the bluest that Lacey had ever seen. Even the air itself seemed cleaner and crisper in the close knit community of Green Grove, New York. But for all of its amenities and outward, inviting appeal, it didn't feel like home. She missed her old house, her old neighborhood and her old friends.

Still, for her mother's sake, she wanted to give it a chance. After all, this wasn't only a life-altering experience for her. Judy Porter had to deal with the biggest change of all, the dissolution of her marriage and the realization that she would be raising them in the capacity of single mother for the foreseeable future. She was clinging to happiness wherever she could find it. She didn't need to contend with a complaining spirit from both of her daughters on top of everything else. Yet, in spite of all her noble resolve not to add to her mother's woes, the culture shock and homesickness Lacey felt in that moment was acute and she had a difficult time masking her initial disappointment.

She made a valiant effort to focus on the positives nonetheless. The house was beautiful and so was the neighborhood. In fact, the community in which they resided was as picturesque as the rest of Green Grove, as if it had been plucked directly from a movie scene. There were neat rows of towering, verdant trees that lined the street which were filled with suburban homes very similar to their own. She watched as unassuming neighbors pushed through their daily jogs, walked their massive, purebred dogs and mowed their perfectly kept lawns all seemingly without a care in the world. The atmosphere was so disgustingly ideal that Lacey half expected the birds to erupt into twittering song at any moment.

Lacey honestly didn't _want_ to hate it. She had absolutely no rational reason to hate it. But she did. She hated it utterly.

"So..." Judy prompted, shaking Lacey from her unflattering musing by doing an impromptu twirl in the middle of the driveway, "...what do you girls think?"

At eighteen years of age Lacey had finally acquired enough social skills and people savvy to temper her responses with dignity and tact. Her fifteen year old sister, on the other hand, had yet to master the nuances of bridling her tongue and, therefore, simply blurted out the first honest thing that came to her mind. Clara tugged her ear buds from her ears and perused their brand new surroundings with a deep, dissatisfied scowl.

"What is this place?" Clara Porter grunted with a haughty toss of her hair, "I feel like we just stepped into an episode of a 1950's sitcom! I don't like it. Do black people even live around here?"

Judy Porter slumped forward with a mortified glower after shooting a reflexive glance over to the moving men to make certain they hadn't overheard. "Clara, my God!" she gasped in affront, "First of all, I raised you to have more class than that! Second of all, yes, I'm sure there are black people...we just haven't seen them yet! And third of all, is that really _all_ you have to say?"

Clara expelled a dramatic sigh and gamely rephrased her earlier statement, sarcasm permeating her every word. "My apologies, dear Mother, " she amended in an affected British accent, "Perhaps I should have said, 'My word, are there any African Americans who reside in this particular community for I don't see many brown faces at all!'" She blinked at her mother in feigned innocence. "Is that better for you?"

Her reward for that sassy challenge was a quelling glare from her mother. "Girl, I don't know why I try with you," Judy sighed wearily, "Grab your stuff and get in the house. You can help the movers direct where everything needs to go. I'm trying to have peace today."

"Ay, ay, captain!" Clara replied with a snappy salute.

As Clara stepped around to the back of the car to comply with her mother's command, Judy moved over to where Lacey stood and draped her arm across her eldest daughter's shoulder. It hadn't escaped her attention that Lacey had yet to make a single comment which was uncharacteristic for her usually extremely opinionated child. She couldn't imagine that was a good thing. She surveyed Lacey with a anxious, sideways glance.

"You're not saying anything. It's making me nervous."

"It's definitely bigger than the house in Baltimore but it doesn't have as much character."

"Well, I did get a promotion and a raise," Judy considered, "We can afford a bigger house now. And as far as character is concerned, I never felt like that house truly represented who I was anyway. I felt like it still belonged to your grandmother, even after she died."

"And this house represents you better?" Lacey challenged dubiously, "Really? What are you going to do? Buy an apron and start baking, maybe join the PTA?"

Judy bit back a smile at Lacey's impertinence. "Be careful. I just might do that."

Lacey uttered a short laugh. "Yeah, whatever..."

"I'm serious. I'm willing to go the distance," Judy teased her, "I want you and Clara to love this place."

Rather than cheering Lacey, the words had sobering effect. Her smile faltered. "The neighborhood's not the same. I want to like it. I'm trying but...it's not home."

"Maybe that's a good thing. God knows I've had enough of your father's family inserting themselves into our private business. They already blame me for what happened with Sam. As far as they're concerned, I never deserved him. I don't want any reminders of that old life."

"Clara has point though. It feels so foreign here. This neighborhood doesn't seem to offer a lot of...um...diversity."

"It's true," her mother agreed, "Green Grove isn't nearly as rich in ethnicity as Baltimore was but I'd like you to give it a shot in spite of that, sweetie. I think we can be really happy here."

Lacey nibbled her upper lip, quietly considering the possibility. "How far are we from the coast now?"

"Further away than we used to be but we can still get there," Judy reassured her, "This doesn't have to be a major change, Lacey."

"I know that. But it _feels_ like one..." Lacey mumbled before she could stop herself.

She was trying desperately to maintain her optimism but it was difficult not to feel overwhelmed by so many changes in so short a time. In just under two weeks, she would be beginning her perquisite classes at Green Grove University instead of pursuing her nursing degree at the University of Baltimore as she'd once imagined she would. No longer was she looking forward to having her first taste of independence by living on campus. Now Lacey expected that she would be ling at home until she finally graduated from college. Nothing at all was working out as she had expected.

Over the past six months, her entire life had become unrecognizable to her. The nuclear family that she had known most of her life had now fragmented to include only her mother, sister and herself. Her father still made every effort to keep in touch with them but, he was living a life completely separate from them now. The friends and family who had driven her mother so crazy but had served as a firm foundation for Lacey were now hundreds of miles away. Even her relationship with her boyfriend of two years was done. And the home where she had experienced nearly every significant milestone imaginable had been sold and replaced by a cookie cutter model in a whitebread neighborhood. Needless to say, Lacey wasn't thrilled about any of it.

Judy could sense all of those unvoiced, conflicted feelings in Lacey despite her reluctance to say the words out loud. "Come on, baby," she cajoled gently, "You can tell me the truth. I won't break."

"She hates it," Clara volunteered as she sailed from behind the car towards the house, "She's just too much of a goody two shoes to tell you."

Lacey glared at her retreating back. "Shut up, Clara! Nobody asked you!"

Her hope that her irritation and vehemence would prompt her mother to chalk Clara's sardonic declaration up to her typical teenage facetiousness was lost when Judy scrutinized her even more closely following Clara's statement. "Is she right?" her mother wondered softly, "Do you hate it, baby girl?" Judy flinched a bit as she added, "Do you hate _me_?"

"No, Mom!" Lacey protested fervently, "I don't hate you! Why would I?"

"Because I'm the one who dragged you away from your cousins and your home and your boyfriend so we could live here," Judy considered, "The only reason you and Chris broke up was because he couldn't do a long distance relationship. I would understand if you blamed me for that."

At the mention of her ex-boyfriend, unbidden tears sprang to Lacey's eyes. "It's not your fault," she argued in a thickened tone, "If he had loved me enough, he would have at least _tried_ to make something work for us and he didn't. That's not on you."

"Oh, Lacey..."

"I don't want to talk about him," she interrupted quickly before Judy could complete her pitying statement, "Besides, it's not like what happened between you and Dad. I'll get over Chris...eventually. But I worry about you and how you're handling everything. I don't blame you for feeling like you needed to get out of Baltimore after everything that happened, Mom."

"And I appreciate the fact that you're being so diplomatic about it but we both know that this was never part of the plan, Lacey. If you're hating me a little bit, you can say it."

"Dad taking off to 'find himself' was never part of the plan either," Lacey considered, "but that didn't stop him from leaving us to do what made him happy. You're trying to do what's best for Clara and me. I'm not going to judge you for that. I'm not going to hate you." She turned away so that she could retrieve her own belongings from the trunk of the car. "If I hate anyone, it's Dad."

"Don't say things like that. That's not what I want. You have no idea how much your father struggled with his decision. It tore him apart."

"And that's supposed to make it okay that he left us?" Lacey challenged bitterly, "That he left _you_?"

"It's complicated. You know that. Your father wrestled with his sexuality for a very long time. He wasn't happy anymore. Neither was I really. I needed to let him go for both of our sakes. He's already lost so much support from his own family. He needs us to stay in his corner."

Lacey snapped the trunk shut and regarded her mother with an angry scowl. "Well, maybe he should have thought about that _before_ he asked you to marry him," she bit out, "and _before_ he had a wife and two kids who depended on him, and _before_ he made us believe that we were what he really wanted! I don't care about his lame excuse of waiting until Clara and I were older! He was selfish and I _do_ hate him so stop defending him to me, Mom!"

Judy flinched. Her first instinct was to pull Lacey into her arms but she knew any sympathetic overture would be rejected so she apologized instead. Unfortunately, that did little to soothe Lacey's anger. "Why are _you_ the one apologizing?" she cried stridently, "You didn't do anything wrong! Dad is the one who destroyed our family, not you!"

"Maybe we shouldn't talk about it anymore," Judy considered, "I can see that you're still too upset." Lacey's jaw flexed at the observation but she made no effort to deny it. Her mother sighed. "Why don't we go into the house and take a little tour? I can show you your room. It overlooks the backyard. I think you're going to love it."

When they entered the house, Judy took Lacey from room to room and gave her a brief rundown of how she planned to decorate. It took a great deal of imagination given that they were mostly dealing with cluttered space filled with haphazardly placed furniture and towering boxes. They were mindful to keep out of the movers' way but as the downstairs became more and more cramped, Judy decided to continue their tour upstairs.

The house was complete with four bedrooms, which was a change for the girls who had shared a room since they were small. Even after their grandmother died, they had opted to continue bunking together, mainly because Samuel Porter had always had some down and out relative who needed to use that spare bedroom from time to time. It seemed that Judy and Sam had always been hurting for extra space while they had been married and, now that they were divorced, Judy had more space than she knew what to do with. It was a nice change but also a bit depressing.

In hopes of distracting herself from that fact, Judy quickly ushered Lacey to her room, hoping that if she could drum up some enthusiasm in her daughter it would peak her own. They found Clara there already, seated in the window seat and texting furiously on her cell phone. She glanced up as they entered, her features stony with determination.

"Too late. I call dibs. I already know where I'm putting all of my stuff!"

"Whoa, hold your horses there, sweetie," Judy disputed firmly, "This room is for Lacey."

"But she's barely going to be here!" Clara burst out, "Between classes and her volunteering at the hospital, she'll never be at home! Why does she get the bigger room? I was here first!"

"She's the oldest. That's why," Judy smoothly interjected, "Besides that, Lacey didn't pick this room for herself. _I_ made that choice. Your room is down the hall, right next to mine...where I can keep a close eye on you, young lady. You try to creep in here after curfew again, I'm going to know about it."

"Are you kidding me?" Clara bleated in affront, "That's not fair! I don't even know anyone here so it's not like I'm going to break curfew anyway! You always give her everything!"

"Clara, don't whine," her mother chided mildly, "It's unbecoming."

Her dramatic growl echoed through the empty room. "This blows!"

Lacey tsked her sister as she explored the closet, whistling under her breath as she realized it was large enough to contain all of her clothing and even more. "Stop being a brat. Maybe you would have had a better shot at getting your way if you didn't make such a habit of sneaking out at night."

Clara shot her a withering glare. "Yeah, like _you_ never did it."

Her older sister responded to that with self-satisfied smirk over her shoulder. "But I never got caught."

Judy gasped her name in affronted disbelief. "And here I was thinking your sister was the only wild one."

Lacey rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't worry, Mom. I'm nowhere near Clara levels. She remains the queen."

"You know it," Clara interjected proudly.

"But I don't guess there's any real point in keeping it secret that I used to sneak Chris into my bedroom at night. It's not like it matters anymore. We're done now."

"That crafty little bastard," her mother grumbled, "I never did like that boy."

Once the rooming arrangements were finally established, the three Porter women focused on emptying the car of their remaining belongings and directing the movers on what went where. After the men were gone and they were left with the disordered chaos that came with moving, they each split off into separate directions with the intention of tackling one room a piece. An hour later, Lacey was in the middle of reassembling her computer desk when Clara poked her head in.

"Just thought you'd want to know...Mom's crying again."

It was an occurrence that both girls had become quite accustomed to in the last few months but the frequency of the incidences did nothing to lessen their dismay. Lacey slumped forward and expelled a melancholy grunt. She set aside her task and surveyed her sister with a helpless expression. "What should we do? It seems like things are getting worse instead of better."

Clara shrugged and stepped inside the room completely, perching herself on the edge of one of Lacey's unpacked boxes. "I don't know. She's downstairs looking at old pictures of her and Dad," she said, "So, short of burning all of our family photo albums, I don't have any answers, Lacey."

Her reply provoked yet another grunt from Lacey but this one was tempered with simmering rage. She bit out an infuriated curse under her breath. "I don't understand why she won't let herself be mad at him," she grated, "It's so freaking frustrating to listen to her defend him all of the time!"

"What do you expect? She'd been with him ever since she was my age," Clara reasoned, "He was her first love, her first _everything_. I guess that makes it hard to let go."

"That just makes what he did to her even worse. God, I hate him."

"You'll get no arguments from me about that," Clara said, "This is the whole reason I don't do relationships. After seeing what happened to you and Mom, I honestly don't get the hype. I prefer to keep my options open."

Lacey smirked at her wryly. "Hmm...is that what they call sleeping around these days?"

Clara wagged a chastising finger at her. "Hey now...don't slut shame," she admonished her sister with an irreverent smile, deliberately quoting their mother with her next statement, "It's unbecoming. Besides there's nothing wrong with doing what makes you feel good. I go with the flow. I live in the moment. You should try it sometime."

"Yeah, it's all fun and games until you catch the herp," Lacey replied in a dry tone, "then you'll be singing a different tune."

"Not gonna happen, big sister. I have but one rule: no glove, no love."

Lacey choked out a stunned giggle. "Oh my God. You did not just say that!"

"Why not? I'm being completely serious. I'm not irresponsible. Why do you think I carry condoms in my purse? I gotta stay prepared."

"And you've never _once_ had sex without one?" Lacey pressed, "No exceptions?"

"No exceptions _ever_ ," Clara confirmed, "I don't take any chances with the vajajay. If I don't take care of my goodies then who will?"

"You're a hot mess."

"You just don't want to admit that I have a point," Clara argued, "I bet you _and_ Mom would be a hell of a lot happier if you'd stuck with getting laid, no strings attached. Leave all of the 'love' nonsense out of it."

"So what? I'm just supposed to pick up some random guy off the street, bang his brains out and then walk away?" Lacey challenged.

"Yep."

"No, I couldn't do that," Lacey denied with a firm shake of her head, "Casual sex is not going to fix anything, not for me and definitely not for Mom either."

"So we're just supposed to let her stay downstairs looking at old photos and bawling her eyes out?"

"Of course not. We should distract her," Lacey suggested, "Maybe we can go out to dinner or go to a movie. She needs to keep her mind off of Dad. But I don't think hooking up with some guy is going to make her feel better. In fact, it might just make her feel worse."

"You're probably right," Clara agreed, "Maybe it won't work for Mom but that doesn't mean _you_ shouldn't think about it. I can't watch you mope over that asshole one second longer. Chris was a punk ass bitch. You shouldn't waste a second of your time pining over him."

"Wow, don't feel like you have to censor yourself on my account, Clare," Lacey muttered sarcastically.

"I'm just saying...the guy was a complete douche-nozzle. Everyone could see it except you."

"Regardless, I honestly thought he and I were going to be together for the long haul and it hurts that he bailed on me," Lacey whispered glumly, "I'm not like you. I can't have sex with someone and not have my feelings involved. I don't work that way."

"And waiting until you fall in love gets you what exactly?" Clara challenged, "I just think life's too short to waste it being miserable over some guy who, in the end, proves he wasn't worth your time in the first place."

Lacey was still weighing the wisdom of Clara's words even after the two of them finally convinced their mother to go on an impromptu exploration of their new town. Their meandering drive eventually led them downtown and to a quaint little diner called _Johnnycakes_ where they ultimately decided to stop for dinner. Like the rest of the town, the eatery maintained that same 1950's atmosphere. It even had a jukebox and pedestal seating and was surprisingly jam packed, mostly with teenagers and twenty-somethings. Clara leaned over to nudge Lacey with her elbow.

"I guess we know where the local hangout is now. I'm expecting to hear somebody belt out _'Rock Around the Clock'_ any second."

Lacey swallowed back a giggle. "Stop it," she admonished, struggling to keep her face straight, "Let's give it a chance first."

After they were shown to their booth, with Lacey and Clara taking one side while Judy sat on the opposite, Judy and Clara wasted no time studying their menus for something of interest while Lacey found herself preoccupied with taking in the diner's decor instead. It was while she was admiring the vintage wall memorabilia that a sharp burst of laughter caught her attention. Lacey glanced in the direction of the sound and, without delay, lost her train of thought. Her heart began drumming in her chest at an alarming speed and a hot flush suddenly swept her body.

The guy was almost painfully good-looking, the type of good-looking that made it difficult to maintain eye contact with a person. She was only afforded with a view of his profile but that was more than enough. The falling skein of his long, wavy dark hair didn't quite conceal the adorable way his eyes and nose crinkled when he laughed or the gamin quality of his smile. He was obviously relaxed and in his element, enjoying a carefree evening with a group of his friends, each one equally attractive in their own way but it was the swarthy skinned, mystery man who held Lacey's rapt attention.

She wasn't just enamored by his beauty either. He was ridiculously hot but that had little to do with her wild and racing reaction to him. Lacey had never been the type to be swayed by outward appearance alone. What truly captured her attention and held it was the innate sense, the unshakeable instinct that she knew him somehow...and not just as some passing acquaintance either. Lacey couldn't imagine when or where that could have occurred or how she could have forgotten meeting someone so striking in appearance but she was almost eerily certain they _had_ met before. She knew him and she knew him well.

As if he somehow felt the intensity of her stare across the crowded diner, the boy suddenly frowned and slowly turned his head, his gaze falling almost instinctively upon Lacey. He didn't have to search for her at all. It was as if he simply knew _where_ to look and did so.

She gasped and not only because she was presented with an unobstructed view of his incredible face but because, almost the instant his eyes met hers, she felt an inexplicable connection with him that could not be denied. Electric energy crackled between them. Her baffling and unexplained reaction unnerved her and caused to her to immediately drop her gaze. She stared blindly at the glossy facade of her menu, her heart hammering in her chest. For a second, she actually feared she might pass out. Lacey was so flustered that she didn't even realize her sister was speaking to her until Clara practically screamed her name directly in her ear.

Lacey swiveled an irritated glower at her. "What?"

"Mom's been asking you for the last five minutes what you want to eat. Have you decided?"

"Oh, sorry..." Lacey muttered sheepishly, "I haven't really looked."

Clara made a face, plainly irritated with her lack of progress. "Then what have you been doing this whole time?" she demanded impatiently, "Waiting for the menu to sprout legs and walk away? Make up your mind and pick something already! I'm starving."

"Oh yeah...yeah...sure..." Lacey mumbled rather absently. She didn't even register her mother excusing herself from the table to use the bathroom because she was too preoccupied with peeking over the edge of her menu to get a glimpse at him again. She practically had a mini stroke when she found him watching her intently, his dark eyes steady and unwavering. She darted her eyes back to the menu, her breath coming in shallow, anxious pants.

Clara dug her elbow into Lacey's side, diverting Lacey's attention. "What's with you? Why are you being so fidgety all of a sudden? Are you getting sick?"

"NO! Nothing. No reason," Lacey refuted weakly, "It's fine. _I'm_ fine. There's nothing wrong. I'm not being fidgety!"

But even as she made the fervent protest Lacey found her eyes being drawn back to the boy. This time he was the one to glance away nervously when their eyes met. A split second later, he found the courage to look at her again and then it was Lacey's turn to look away. However, that last silent exchange between them did not go unnoticed by Clara.

"Okay, so who is he?" she demanded in a flat tone.

Lacey made a lame attempt at feigning ignorance. "Who is who?"

"The guy you're having eye sex with right now," Clara clarified, "You two are practically undressing each other with your eyes."

"No, we're not!" Lacey protested hotly, "I...I...I just think he's cute. That's all."

"Oh, he's _way_ beyond cute, Lacey. He's freaking beautiful but that's beside the point. I've never seen you get this way over a guy before. It's funny and a little scary."

"Tell me about it! I don't know what's wrong with me!"

"Do you know who he is?"

"Not that I can remember," Lacey told her.

"Well, you obviously like him," Clara asserted, "And, if the way he's looking at you is any indication, the feeling is definitely mutual."

Lacey slumped down low in her seat and hid behind her menu. "Oh my God, Clara! Did he see you looking at him? He's going to know we're talking about him! I'm so humiliated!"

"Why are you humiliated? He's pulling the same pathetic nonsense you are. As soon as I looked at him, he looked away." Clara watched in disbelief as her usually poised sister cringed even further. "Who is that guy? Why does he have you acting so weird?"

"I don't know...I don't know..." Lacey lamented in consternation, "All I know is the second I saw him, my palms began to sweat and my heart felt like it was going to burst right out of my chest."

"Oh," Clara drawled with dawned understanding, "I get it now. You want to hit that, don't you?"

"No, I do not!" Lacey hissed, only to belie her vehemence by scooting down deeper in her seat. Clara rolled her eyes in exasperation and reached for her purse. A few seconds later Lacey felt her sister press a crackling something into her palm. She almost died of mortification on the spot when she realized it was a condom. "What...why? Why are you giving me this right now?"

"Because I have a feeling you're going to need it," Clara predicted with a meaningful nod at something across the restaurant.

Lacey craned a careful look around her menu in the direction Clara had indicated and quickly wished that she hadn't. To her everlasting distress, the object of her rabid affection was currently en route to their table, looking every bit as flustered as she felt. She darted a nervous glance towards the bathroom, half hoping her mother would materialize with an inadvertent reprieve. When that didn't happen, Lacey hastily shoved the condom Clara had given her into her pocket and emitted a small, girlish yelp, endeavoring, rather fruitlessly, to make herself as small as possible. She pressed herself into Clara's flank.

"Quick!" she hissed to her sister desperately, "Hide me!"

The words had barely left her lips before a soft, unpretentious, "Hey," sounded above her head. Lacey groaned inwardly. At an almost glacial rate, she tipped back her head to regard him. It took a feat of extraordinary will to maintain eye contact with him. He was even better looking up close. Lacey's heart knocked in her chest double-time. She pushed herself upright in the booth. "Hey," she squeaked softly.

"I...um...I couldn't help but notice you a little while ago," he told her, "and I thought I would come over and say something."

"Oh."

"I'm Danny, by the way."

"I'm Lacey."

The corner of his mouth lifted in a crooked smile. "It's nice to meet you, Lacey." He knelt down alongside her so that they were at eye level when he said, "I was wondering if you might be able to help me with something."

Lacey tried not to be too overly aware of the warmth emanating from his body. "Help you with what?" she asked a little breathlessly.

Danny regarded her with an expression so intense it was easy to forget that they weren't alone. At that precise moment, he and Lacey only had eyes for each other. "I need you to remind me again where we met."


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

Danny Desai rolled over in his spacious, king-sized bed and made the disappointing discovery that he was all alone. The space beside him was cold, vacated long ago by the woman who had fallen asleep in his arms earlier that night. He released a rueful groan, his chest aching with the loss. He hadn't been prepared to wake to an empty bed or to feel so bereft over the fact he had.

What was worse, it seemed to him she had vanished without trace. The only evidence that she'd even been in his bed at all was the discarded condom wrapper on his nightstand and the faint, slightly floral scent of her body wash which still permeated his bed linens. Besides that, she had left no remnants of herself behind, not even the clichéd pair of bikini panties. It was as if she had never been there at all.

He didn't know why it bothered him so much. It wasn't the first time Danny had awakened alone in his bed. Usually, that was exactly the way he preferred it. He enjoyed sex but he enjoyed having his own space even more. Long-term commitment was the furthest thing from his mind. He had zero interest in cuddling or savoring the afterglow. Once passion was expended and lust satisfied, there was really little point in prolonging the inevitable and he preferred to sleep alone.

The girl from the previous night though... _Lacey_...somehow she had been different from all the others he had met. From the instant he saw her, something strange and familiar had sparked in his heart. He had been overwhelmed with the need to know her, to be close to her. She was unspeakably gorgeous but his interest in her went well beyond her incredible beauty and engaging personality. The connection he felt for her was deeper, almost spiritual in a way. Danny couldn't really explain it, could barely understand what had drawn him at all but he had known the moment their eyes met in _Johnnycakes_ that he absolutely could not walk away from her.

Danny had harbored zero expectations when he approached her. He certainly hadn't expected her to go home with him last night but, once she had agreed, he had been fairly overwhelmed with the need to make her stay. Never in his life had he been more dedicated to giving a woman pleasure than he had been with her.

His efforts had not been in vain either. The sex had been nothing short of incredible. His body still hummed with desire at the memory of it. They had come together a natural, fluid and extremely intimate way that had lacked the expected traces of awkwardness one might expect to feel during a casual hookup. Danny had felt oddly familiar with her body, knowing instinctively how and where to touch her. Inexplicably, she'd possessed the same intuition about him. It certainly hadn't felt like the first time between them. In fact, it had felt very much like they had done it before. That was impossible, of course. Danny and Lacey had established that shortly after he approached her table.

She was new to the community of Green Grove, having just moved there from Baltimore, Maryland that very day. Danny, for his part, couldn't ever recall a single time he'd ever been to Baltimore in a capacity that would have afforded him the opportunity to meet her. There was the possibility that they had met somewhere outside of their respective hometowns but their recollections of past vacations with their individual families hadn't yielded any commonalities there either. In the end, they were left with a strange sense of déjàvu that had no discernible explanation. All the evidence said that last night was the first time he had ever laid eyes on Lacey Porter but his heart and body seemed to scream otherwise. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had known her, met her someplace else.

That attraction Danny felt for Lacey had not only compelled him to leave his friends to approach her in the first place, it had also impelled him to linger at her table to meet both her mother and her sister. He had been strangely inundated with the need to make a good impression on her family, particularly her mother, despite having only met Lacey five minutes earlier. For the first time in his life, it actually _mattered_ to him. When Judy Porter invited him to join them for dinner, Danny hadn't hesitated in saying yes rather than rejoining his friends, who were more than a little puzzled at his unprecedented behavior. With very little explanation to them, Danny had eagerly taken up the opportunity to glean everything he could about Ms. Lacey Porter.

He and Lacey were still chatting with one another long after they had finished eating when Judy Porter suddenly announced that it was getting late and they had to leave. She must have read the disappointment on Lacey's face because she surprised both Danny and Lacey by encouraging Lacey to remain behind with him soon rather than accompanying her and Clara home. Recognizing the trust her mother was placing in him and hoping to allay any unease Judy Porter might feel, Danny politely provided all of his contact information to Judy and promised with utmost sincerity that he would have Lacey home at a decent time. Less than two hours after Judy and Clara Porter departed he and Lacey were stumbling through his bedroom door together, their mouths fused in a hungry kiss as they hastily tore off each other's clothing.

Danny's intention had been to have her again and again but after that first time, he had been so sated and so exhausted in the aftermath that he could do little more than gather her naked body to his and fall into a deep sleep. It had never crossed his mind that when he woke the following morning she would gone. He'd been certain she felt the same connection he did. He wanted to kick himself because his lack of foresight had placed him in a rather awkward position. In spite of all the things he had learned about Lacey last night, from her birth date to her favorite type of pizza to all of the secret places she liked to be kissed, he hadn't learned the two most pertinent things of all...her address and her phone number.

Yet another groan of frustration rumbled from his throat. He had found the woman of his dreams and she...she had unfortunately disappeared into the ether. He, at least, had her last name so that would at least be a starting point but not without him needing to go full on stalker to find her. Plus, if the furtive manner in which Lacey had snuck from his bed was any clue at all, she wasn't exactly in the mindset of seeing him again anyway. It wasn't an arrangement that Danny found wholly unfamiliar _but_ he had rarely been on the receiving end of it before.

He didn't know how long he lay there brooding about it in the weak, morning light that filtered through his blinds before he heard the telltale kick and whir of the vacuum cleaner sounding just outside of his bedroom. Obviously Lepa, their family housekeeper of fifteen years, was already deeply embroiled in her daily routine of cleaning the Desai home. If anyone would know where and when Lacey had gone, it would be her. There wasn't a single thing that happened in the Desai household of which Lepa wasn't aware.

Unwilling to accept the possibility that he might never see Lacey again, Danny quickly threw himself from the bed and wrapped his nude form haphazardly in the rumpled sheets before hobbling over to his bedroom door to peer out into the hall. Lepa was only a few doors down the hallway, vacuuming vigorously while whistling a jaunty little tune under her breath. It took Danny calling her several times before he finally managed to snag her attention.

Lepa lurched around with a startled smile and pressed her hand to her thundering heart. "Oh, Mr. Danny," she laughed, her words clipped by a heavy, Ukrainian accent, "I did not expect you to be up so early. Did I disturb you?"

Skipping an explanation on his motives and reassurances that she hadn't disturbed him altogether, Danny plowed straight to the heart of his interests. "Lepa, you didn't happen to see the girl who came home with me last night leave this morning, did you?"

"Oh yes, Mr. Danny. She leave just a little before the sun come up. I put her in a cab just like I always do when you bring the girls home." Danny muttered a terse obscenity under his breath and lightly banged his forehead into the edge of his door. "Is that bad?" Lepa fretted, "You always say you want them gone before you get up. I thought it make you happy."

"No, Lepa, you didn't do anything wrong," Danny sighed before fixing her with a desperate glance a split second after uttering the words. "She didn't happen to say anything to you, did she? About where she lived or wanting to call me or see me again, did she?"

Lepa gaped at him, more than a little surprised by his interest because the girls he typically brought home with him to spend the night were soon to be forgotten the next morning. "No, Mr. Danny, she say nothing," she told him, "It seem to me that she was a little upset. She keep saying she want to go home and that it must be fast. She would not even wait in the kitchen for the cab. She went to stand at the end of the drive instead. I watch her until they pick her up because it was still dark."

"Damn it."

A confused frown knit Lepa's brow. "That is not what you wanted? You always say-,"

"-I know what I always say, Lepa," Danny interrupted impatiently, "and I'm an idiot."

"Excuse me?"

"Forget about it," he sighed in a despondent tone, "What's done is done. You didn't do anything wrong, Lepa. It's not your fault. It's mine."

Danny retreated back into his bedroom with a dejected sigh. Although he was barely nineteen years old, his reputation as a fickle womanizer was well known to his family and, in the years since he had become sexually active, they had tacitly accommodated his proclivities when it pertained to the opposite sex. He didn't like attachment therefore he put stipulations in place to avoid it. They were rules he had established for himself long ago. No one was to ever spend the night. No one was ever to be given his phone number. And it was always to be made clear to them the following morning that the likelihood of him making contact with them again was minimal.

Most girls knew the score and were happy to enjoy a good time with him, no matter how fleeting. Still, there were some unfortunate young women fancied themselves in love with him and, therefore, were heartbroken when they learned he had no further interest in them beyond sex. Still others were bold enough to show up at his home in hopes of round two, only to be humiliated when they were escorted off the grounds by security for trespassing. Danny Desai could be a very intense and generous lover but, when he was done with a woman, he was truly done. Now, for the first time in his life, that hard and fast rule was coming back to bite him in the ass.

Angry with himself and the situation in general, Danny threw himself into the shower with the hope that his day would somehow improve after such a lousy start. That hope was pummeled into dust when he entered the palatial Desai dining room an hour later to enjoy breakfast and was greeted with his Aunt Tara's unsmiling face, rather than his father's jovial one. His mood soured even further.

"Good morning, Daniel," she greeted as he took his place at the table, "I trust your...er...company from last night has already taken her walk of shame this morning."

He purposely didn't acknowledge the barb or bother with returning her greeting having learned long ago she'd have no appreciation for it anyway. "Where's Dad?" he demanded, dropping down into the chair at the opposite end of the table, "I need to talk to him."

"About what?"

"Not that it's any of your business but, I'm interested in hiring a private detective to find someone for...er...personal reasons."

Tara sputtered a laugh. "You can't be serious!"

Danny's jaw tightened at her scornful reply. "Like I said, it's none of your business. I need to speak to Dad about it. Where is he? Is he in the office?"

Tara took her sweet time buttering her toast and took a dainty bite of the crisp bread before answering Danny's sullen demand. "Your father, dear nephew," she emphasized demurely, "is working today, a concept I realize is completely foreign to you. We have a board meeting this morning. He's preparing to address the shareholders. I will be leaving shortly to join him."

Danny squinted at her in confusion as his breakfast of two scrambled eggs, fresh cantaloupe and honeydew melon, toast and coffee was wordlessly delivered before him. "A board meeting?" he echoed blankly, "What time? Why didn't I know about this before now?"

His aunt took a sip of her coffee and then regarded him with a cool stare. "Why would you have needed to know?"

"I am a board member, am I not?"

"Not until you reach 21, my dear," Tara reminded him smoothly, "Besides that, what do you imagine that you could contribute at this the point? You have no degree, no business acumen. You an eighteen year old student in his first semester of college with no declared major and no idea what you want to do with your life."

Danny took a bite of his melon, masking his sneer of contempt. "Forgive me, Aunt Tara. I didn't realize I needed to have my entire future mapped out by the time I graduated high school."

"It's not so unheard of. I did."

He favored her with an embittered smirk. "Well, we can't all be as fabulously perfect as you are."

"I don't expect perfection, Daniel. I'd settle for a productive, functioning member of society," she retorted crisply, "But again, I realize I'm speaking to you concerning matters you have no hopes of grasping."

Danny glared at her. "Are you finished?"

"I'm merely curious," Tara said, "Why would you have any interest in the day to day at Desai Corp? You could never be bothered before now but, in recent months, you've made several inquiries into our accounts. What has changed so suddenly?"

"Does that bother you?" he challenged.

"Why should it?" she retorted in a scoffing tone, "As if you have the faintest notion what you're looking for. I find it amusing that you even try."

"Is it so unforgivable that I want to understand the nuances of our company better?"

"Not unforgivable. Merely unprecedented. You've never cared in the past."

"Maybe that's because you're always very quick to remind me of how useless I am and how little I have to offer to the company," Danny grumbled, "Every time I ask a question, you essentially pat me on the head and tell me to run along. It tends to kill my motivation."

"A convenient excuse," Tara scoffed, "However, I am unmoved. I grew up with Aravinda Desai for a father. If anything, his lack of support only strengthened my drive and determination to succeed rather than undermining it. Perhaps, it has little to do with me and more to do with the fact that you are weak, Daniel. You always have been...much like your useless mother."

Danny's reaction to that statement was swift and volatile. "Don't talk about my mother!" he hissed, "Never mention her again!"

"My apologies, nephew. Did I strike a nerve? I can't imagine why. You didn't even know the woman."

"Can we just end this conversation now and finish breakfast in peace?" he suggested tautly, "It's obvious that neither of us enjoys speaking to the other so let's end this torture, shall we?"

"What is the aversion you have for the truth?"

"I have no aversion to the truth, simply _your_ version of it. I don't believe for a second that my mother was as vapid and silly as you make her sound. Dad would have never fallen in love with her otherwise."

Tara's eyes became positively flinty at the assertion. "Vikram was _never_ in love with that foolish girl!"

"That's not the way he tells it." Satisfied that he had struck a nerve with her, Danny took a hearty bite of his eggs. "Perhaps we should ask him about it at the board meeting this morning."

"You're not attending the board meeting."

Danny set aside his fork. "I have every right to do so," he reminded her curtly.

"Just because you _can_ do something doesn't mean you _should_ , Daniel. This company isn't another one of your toys, in which you lose interest with remarkable swiftness I might add," Tara argued, "This is the livelihood of our family, the backbone of the Desai name and you are self-indulged, spoiled little boy with no concept of the responsibility and privilege you have been given. My apologies if that fact does not have me brimming with confidence in your abilities. I won't have you run my father's company into the ground because you wish to delude yourself into believing you deserve a single thing you've been given!"

"But that's not your choice to make, is it? The company _is_ mine...or, at least, it will be mine come my twenty-first birthday. Grandfather left it to _me_ , remember?"

"And we've discussed at length why that is, haven't we, Daniel?" Tara challenged coolly, "It certainly wasn't because he saw any sort of potential in you. My dear, you were a means to an end, a way to torment his children even from the grave. Aravinda Desai was a sick, twisted man who gleaned pleasure from hurting others." She clasped her hands together and surveyed him with an implacable stare. "Please don't deceive yourself into believing it was something more than that."

Danny managed to conceal his reactive flinch at her unbridled and callous candor. "I'm not deceiving myself about anything, Aunt Tara," he told her, "I am very well aware of my shortcomings. I don't need you to remind me every ten seconds!"

"There's that aversion to truth again."

"Oh, give me a break!" he flared, "I'm not a threat to you even though you constantly treat me as one! Haven't I already agreed to sign the company over to my father when the time comes? Why is that not enough for you? Or do you lack faith in Dad's abilities as well?"

"Your father will do what is best for the company..." Tara declared coldly, "...and for me, just as he always has."

" _But_..." Danny added stubbornly before she could become puffed up with self-importance, "That is a little less than three years away. In the meantime, I remain a member of this family, the _owner_ of this house and I hold an active stake in Desai Corp. I expect to be kept in the loop from now on. No exceptions. If you have an issue with that I can bring it before the board."

"That isn't at all necessary. I have no problems at all, nephew," Tara replied, demurely lowering her eyes, "Whatever you wish."

Silence descended over the dining room after that. Danny tried to ignore her presence and enjoy what remained of his breakfast but the food was like sawdust in his mouth. Tara Desai had always possessed a remarkable talent for ruining his good mood with very minimal effort. And on a day like today, when his morning had already gotten off to a rotten start, it didn't require much for her to get under his skin.

Since he'd been a small child, Tara had never hesitated to remind him that he had been nothing more than a pawn to his grandfather and, despite the millions of dollars and weighty responsibility that had been left to him, none of it had been sparked by any real confidence in his innate knack for business. Rather, Aravinda Desai had been motivated purely by revenge. His very existence was a constant and painful reminder of that fact.

All of his life, Danny had been made to feel like a nuisance and general screw-up by his aunt. He had a contentious relationship with her that consisted of a strange need to have her approval while simultaneously doing everything in his power to incur her ire. His father often said that it was his need for a mother figure which caused him to gravitate towards Tara in the hopes that she would embrace him as a son and Danny could see how that was true.

After all, his own mother had died when he was only two years old. Her family shunned him and ignored his existence in the wake of her death, for reasons he did not fully understand. His father often said that they disdained his Indian heritage but his instincts told him that it was something more. In the meantime, however, he naturally looked to Tara to fill the void Karen Desai had left in his world. Tara was the closest thing to a mother that he had ever known. Danny wanted her to love him and yet, at the same time, he resented and despised her because she didn't. He despised himself even more for caring at all.

She was completely lacking in warmth and empathy. Danny couldn't remember a single time that she had ever said anything remotely encouraging to him. She seemed to revel in constantly reminding him of his failures and the many ways he fell short in her eyes. He would never live up to her expectations and he knew it. Danny also knew that she deeply resented the closeness he shared with his father and, at times, it seemed almost as if she viewed Danny as a rival for Vikram Desai's affections. He knew very well that his aunt hated him even if he couldn't understand exactly why she did. He decided to ask her outright.

Tara scoffed. "I don't hate you, Daniel. That type of emotion would require that I feel something for you at all...and I don't."

"What exactly did I do to you, Aunt Tara? Why do you resent me so much?"

"You've done _nothing_ ," she said, "And that's the point. You're little more than an obstacle and a thorn. Your entire existence is a waste." Having reached his limit on her cutting remarks, Danny scraped his chair back from the table with the intention of walking out of there when her next words to him stopped him in his tracks. "By the way, your latest piece arrived this morning." She waited until Danny pivoted to face her again before she added, "Your father had it put in the show room for you."

Danny perked up with the mention of his collection, his excitement momentarily eclipsing his annoyance with her. "Did he get to see it at all?"

Tara rolled her eyes. "Daniel, my brother has better things to do with his time than peruse a dagger that might have belonged to some obscure, ancient general that died long ago," she sighed in disinterest, "I still can't understand why he allowed you to spend so much money on what amounts to a useless relic."

"It's a piece of history, Tara. I would think you could appreciate that."

"I'm interested in history that concerns our family. Some general who died hundreds of years ago hardly merits my attention."

"He wasn't a general!" Danny corrected with an impatient edge, "He was a prince and not an 'obscure' one either. Ti'sata was the son and heir to King Tushratta, a mighty Mitanni general who very nearly conquered Egypt, a world power at the time. Legend holds that he fell in battle at the hands of a young Pharaoh Tutankhamun shortly before Tutankhamun died himself. The fact that I might actually own the ancient dagger that belonged to him is nothing short of incredible! Most collectors would give their left arm for that piece!"

His collection of ancient Egyptian and Mitanni artifacts was one of the few things that Danny Desai was intensely passionate about. Even before he learned to form complete sentences, he had been fascinated with by the historical details of that time, particularly the ones that revolved around the largely mysterious boy king, Pharaoh Tutankhamun. When he was younger, Danny would often pretend that he was the young monarch, surrounded by backstabbers and betrayers much the way prepubescent Tut had been. He could sympathize deeply with the weighty responsibility that had been placed on the Egyptian boy's shoulders at such a tender age. It was very similar to the responsibility that had been placed upon himself.

Vikram Desai had always been very understanding of Danny's fascination with ancient collectibles which, at times, bordered on zealous obsession. Tara, on the other hand, found his interest to be a complete waste of time and never failed to voice her opinion on the matter. She did the same presently as well.

"Daniel, I'm in no mood for a history lesson. I could care less for your frivolous hobby. It is a waste of resources," Tara refuted, "I've never agreed with your father's indulgence on the matter. _But_ , if it keeps you preoccupied and out of my hair, by all means, carry on."

"Do you have to try hard to be a bitch or does it simply come naturally for you?" Danny bit out in a deceptively thoughtful tone, "Or do you simply detest the idea of someone being happy because you're so damned miserable?"

"Careful, Daniel," Tara warned him with an arched brow, "I'm not someone you want to have as an enemy. Remember that. You never know what could happen."


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

"Okay, spill your guts. Whenever you start reading about dead people, I know something's up."

Lacey calmly set aside her book on ancient Egyptian civilization and regarded her younger sister with a deadpan expression. Her expression clearly transmitted her desire to be alone but Clara, as per usual, wasn't having it. She leaned into the frame of Lacey's door and crossed her arms in unmistakable challenge. Defeated before the figurative battle could even be fought, Lacey merely grunted in acquiesce and motioned for Clara to come inside.

Although Clara had rightly deduced that something was, indeed, on her mind right then, Lacey certainly wasn't in the mood to hash it out with Clara at the moment. She already had a fairly good idea of how their conversation would go. Clara would be full of sage advice and wise anecdotes just as she always was. Lacey would make an outward appearance of rejecting her counsel even as she secretly contemplated its viability. In the end, she would inevitably do exactly what Clara suggested only to be left with swamping regret once the deed was done.

That was exactly what had happened when Lacey yielded to her impulse to go home with Danny Desai and sleep with him. After her family had gone, he and she had made a valiant attempt to continue their small talk but it was evident from the heated glances they kept exchanging that both wanted to do far more than talk. The connection between them felt almost palpable. While caught up in the passion and excitement he provoked within her, Lacey had never felt more certain of anything in her entire life. She had wanted Danny with a fervency that wouldn't be denied. With such strong emotions motivating her, Lacey had plunged headfirst into intimacy with him, never once entertaining the possibility that doing so might be a colossal mistake.

However, waking up beside him the following morning had evoked mixed feelings within her. On the one hand, it did feel ridiculously good to be presented with his sleeping countenance upon opening her eyes, to feel his warm, naked skin pressed against her own. She had felt whole and safe and secure, a state which had been rather elusive for her ever since her parent's divorce. Her entire world had been off kilter following that horrible day and, if she was honest, even _before_ that day as well. Yet, inexplicably, she had managed to find the stability she had been craving for months in the circle of Danny Desai's arms...a young man she had known less than twenty four hours.

That fact was the very thing that sparked her conflicted emotions because, on the other hand, she couldn't completely dismiss the reality that she was in bed with a total stranger. She didn't know Danny at all. She couldn't call what was between them a friendship. They weren't even dating. At best, they could be described as mere acquaintances. Other than exchanging a few pleasantries and some minor, personal details about themselves, she knew nothing of Danny Desai beyond how well he kissed and how perfectly his body fit hers.

Essentially, what had transpired between them was the very definition of a one night stand. In hindsight, the knowledge was enough to horrify her. Lacey had never done anything like that before. She and Chris had been dating nearly eight months before she'd finally reached a point of readiness with him. And, before him, there had only been one other guy, a boy she had foolishly hooked up with during a party because she imagined that she had meant more to him than she actually did. It was a bitter pill to swallow when, the following day at school, not only did he ignore her completely but he also proceeded to boast to all his friends about how he had taken her virginity.

Lacey had been cautious with sex and, most especially, her heart ever since. While Clara was carefree and impulsive, sleeping with whom she liked when she liked, Lacey had committed herself to a monogamous relationship and had only engaged in sexual intimacy after considering the matter reasonably and thoughtfully. There had been a time when she had imagined she and Chris would get married. He was everything she imagined for her future. But then her family had started to have problems and he had buckled under the emotional strain it had caused her. Moving to Green Grove had proven to be the final straw.

As a result of that experience, Lacey had even more reason to be careful with her heart. She had never been one to fall into bed easily and she didn't do one night stands. And, until three days ago, she was rather repulsed by the thought of casual hookups. Goodness knew she had encouraged Clara to be more discriminating on more than one occasion. But then all of her prudent wisdom and forethought had flown out the window with Danny Desai. Not only had the desire to have sex with him been there but the follow-through as well. The realization that a virtual stranger could cause her to abandon all the moral convictions that she had taken years to build had been disconcerting for her.

All of those things and more had tumbled through her mind as the full enormity of what she had done with him began to settle over her. The longer she had lain beside him, the more confused she became. What she had been so sure of hours before had then left her plagued with self-doubt. In the end, she had crept from his bed and thrown on some clothing in the hope that putting some needed distance between them would allow her to think more clearly. She wasn't fully prepared to be intercepted by his housekeeper during her fruitless search for the bathroom and essentially informed that she had to leave.

The woman, a middle aged woman with kind, blue eyes and a thick Ukrainian accent, had been polite and cordial to her but also completely matter-of-fact about informing her that "Mr. Danny" likely would not be contacting her again. She was also strongly advised not to make any attempts in contacting him afterwards either because that would likely not be met any positive response. It was then that it became clear to Lacey that she obviously wasn't the first woman Danny Desai had brought home as a bed guest and, in fact, he had such a habit of doing so that he had a plan in place for getting rid of them once he'd gotten what he wanted. It was shades of her first time all over again.

Until that moment, Lacey had merely been inundated with uncertainty and fear but, after that, she had felt used as well. Upon returning home in the early morning hours, she discovered her mother and sister slumped together on the couch amid stacks of unpacked boxes. They awakened with her entry into the house and, of course, wanted all the details to her night. Lacey had deflected by declaring that she was tired and reassuring them both that she and Danny had "talked" and nothing more. "It turns out we didn't have as much in common as I thought," she had told them and, after that, all discussion about him was effectively over.

For the next three days, Lacey concentrated on assisting in getting the house unpacked and organized and coordinating with her counselor concerning her classes for the semester and what requirements she would need to meet in order to be admitted into the nursing program. When she wasn't up to her elbows in boxes, she spent her free time at the local hospital becoming oriented to the emergency department and gift shop, where she would be spending the bulk of her volunteer hours.

In the meantime, she put forth a concerted effort not to think about Danny Desai or dwell on what she had done with him. During the day, that was an easy task to accomplish. She filled her schedule with things to keep her busy and distracted so that he was hardly a thought in her head. But at night, when she was exhausted and vulnerable, he inevitably crept into her subconscious, warming her with his smile and his kisses and the fervent sincerity in his dark eyes. In her dreams, she would relive her conversation with him at the diner and that feeling, that undeniable feeling that they were somehow connected to each other in a fundamental way, would seep into her heart again.

 _Lacey ducked her head, acutely aware of the intensity of his stare as she picked over the plate of French fries they had ordered. "Do you always do that?" she mumbled self-consciously._

 _He smiled at her. "Do what? Buy pretty girls French fries?"_

 _She rolled her eyes, though it was difficult to bite back an answering smile when his eyes twinkled so endearingly. "No. Are you always intense like this?" she clarified, "I don't think you've glanced away from me more than a few times since you came over here."_

 _Danny leaned in across the table, his voice lowering to a conspiratorial whisper when he said, "Well, you are really nice to look at."_

 _"I'm sure you've seen pretty girls before."_

 _"I've never seen you before...at least not that I can recall right now," he countered with surprisingly seriousness, "There's something about you, Lacey Porter. I can't put my finger on it..."_

 _"I know. I know. You think we've met before."_

 _"I know we've met before," he insisted firmly, "I just can't remember where that was."_

 _"I think we've already covered the fact that it's not possible. We've picked this apart, Danny. You and I have never crossed each other's paths before this day. Maybe you just met a girl who looked like me."_

 _He shook his head, his brow creased with an adamant frown. "It's not that. It's you. I know you. I don't know how I know you, Lacey, but I do. This..." he gestured between them, "...us sitting here and sharing a meal together? We've done this before. And that way you toss your head when you're being dismissive or in denial, I know that too."_

 _"I do not toss my head when I'm being dismissive!" Lacey denied hotly, only to do exactly that._

 _Danny laughed. "See? There you go. This all feels very familiar to me. Don't you feel it too?"_

 _"Yes," Lacey confessed in a trembling whisper, "I feel it."_

 _His eyes dropped briefly to her mouth before he met her gaze again in wanton appeal. "So what do you think we should do about that?"_

That was the very question that had led to her going home with him in the first place. After that moment, she had acted on pure instinct and emotion, deciding to go with what felt good rather than getting caught up in her own head. They had been so in tune with one another that night, both physically, emotionally and even spiritually that Lacey couldn't imagine how being with him could be a mistake. There was a part of her that still couldn't imagine it either and that was the part that continued to cling to the feelings Danny Desai had evoked within her that night.

When she was asleep, Lacey replayed every, vivid detail of their night together, remembering every kiss, every caress. She recalled the lines and contours of his body and how eagerly he had responded to her touch, how he had acted as if he couldn't get enough of it. But when she was awake, Lacey did everything in her power not to think about that night or him at all. That endeavor was made even more difficult because Clara just wouldn't leave it alone. She continued to pester Lacey about the details of that night even after Lacey had told her over and over again that there was nothing to talk about.

Presently, she sprawled across the foot of Lacey's bed and rolled her head to regard her older sister with a woebegone expression. "Out with it. You slept with him, didn't you?"

Lacey flinched at her blunt observation and quickly snatched up her book again to cover her sudden discomfiture. "I already told you that nothing happened, Clara."

"Yeah, and I happen to think you're lying. You've always sucked at it."

"I guess you would know, being the expert and all."

Undeterred by the insult, Clara rolled onto her side and propped herself up onto her elbow. "Was the sex that bad that you had to block it out of your mind completely?"

Lacey feigned absorption in her book when, in reality, she had read the same sentence three times already and not processed a single thing. "Can't you see that I'm busy, Clara?"

"You've read that book like ten billion times already. The ending won't change, Lacey. King Tut will still be a dead boy king. Get over it already."

"Go away, Clara," Lacey gritted through clenched teeth.

"Let's talk about the live and breathing for a moment, namely one Mr. Danny Desai who you spent practically an entire night with."

"I'm not talking about this with you."

"Come on!" Clara cajoled, "Throw me a bone here. Was it too small?" Lacey grunted in frustration. "Too thin? Was it crooked? I hate when they're crooked. The angle is never quite right, especially if the guy doesn't know what he's doing." This time Lacey groaned aloud. "What? Did he suffer from premature release syndrome?"

That was the last straw. Lacey snapped her book shut with an annoyed glower. "For the God, Clara, why won't you drop this?"

"Because you've been moping for three days. I know something is bothering you," Clara replied softly, "You'd keep at me if the shoe was on the other foot and you know it, Lacey."

Her quiet sincerity was Lacey's undoing. She released a shuddering breath. "Yeah..." came her nearly inaudible confession a few seconds later, "Yeah, I slept with him."

"Finally! We're getting somewhere!" When Lacey's expression darkened even further, Clara tsked in understanding. "So what? Was he all show and no go?"

"No, not at all," Lacey denied, "Actually, it was...really good. He definitely knew what he was doing."

"Great! So what's the problem?"

"I didn't say there was a problem."

"No, you're just _acting_ like there is one." Clara pondered the circumstances for a moment, a horrifying thought occurring to her. "You _did_ use protection, right?"

"Of course!"

"I had to be sure," Clara said in response to Lacey's offended outburst, "You've been walking around here like somebody kicked your puppy and, if the sex was so great, I can't think of any other reason why you would be so upset."

"How about the fact that I slept with a perfect stranger?"

"So what? It's not like you're ever going to see him again."

"That's not the point," Lacey huffed.

"Then what is the point?"

Lacey opened her mouth to explain, only to snap it shut when she realized she couldn't verbalize a clear reason for why she was so hurt and angry. She reached for her book again. "Forget it. You wouldn't understand," she told her sister.

"Oh...my...God..." Clara uttered incredulously, "Please do not tell me you fell for that guy."

That statement was so close to the truth that Lacey was compelled to lift her chin haughtily and regard her sister with a dismissive expression. "I don't know what you're talking about."

The denial wasn't the least bit convincing and Clara let her know that. "You did," she concluded in unwavering certainty, "You fell for him. Seriously, how the hell does that happen?"

"I don't know what you want me to say."

"Tell me what you're thinking! Damn, Lacey! It was just _one_ night. That must have been the superfly Mandingo D this guy put on you."

Lacey tipped her head back against her headboard with a longsuffering sigh. "Do you have to be so crude about everything?" she lamented.

"I'm just saying. You don't even know this guy and he has you all flustered."

"It wasn't just the sex, Clara," Lacey insisted gruffly, "It was _everything_ that happened before that. It was how he made me feel. Have you ever met someone before and had an instant connection with them? I'm not talking about sexual attraction here. I'm talking about the feeling that you've found a vital part of yourself that you didn't even know was missing before."

Clara squinted at her. "You mean like soulmates?"

She sounded so scornful of the very idea that Lacey tossed a throw pillow at her. "Shut up. When you say it like that, it sounds cheesy and stupid!"

"It _is_ cheesy. You're telling me that you think some random, hot guy you met in a diner is your soulmate, Lacey. That's weird and, if I'm honest, a little concerning. Who's the younger sister here? Out of the two of us, I think I'm the one who should be having these fanciful notions about love, not you. You're supposed to be the sensible one."

"I didn't say he was my soulmate," Lacey clarified, "Those were _your_ words. But...it does kind of feel like he is. It's hard to explain."

"Why? Before last night you didn't even know he existed."

"There's just something about him, Clare. Do you know that when we went back to his place, he didn't just rush me into bed?" Lacey posited rhetorically, "Instead, he gave me a tour and we just talked about everything you could possibly imagine. Turns out he has the same fascination with ancient Egypt that I do. He has all of these artifacts that he's been collecting since he was a little kid. It was incredible."

"So because you both share the same morbid fascination of mummies, you think you're meant to be?"

"It's _more_ than that," Lacey insisted, "He knew things about me, Clara. Things about my mannerisms and my philosophies on life. He just seemed to have this instinctual understanding about what was important to me. I knew the same thing about him. Without him needing to tell me, I completely understood the desire he has inside of him to do great things but he doesn't know how or if he's even capable of accomplishing everything he wants to do. He has all this unrecognized potential in himself that he's not even aware of because he doesn't believe in himself."

"And you learned all of this from a few hours of conversation and looking at his art collection?"

The disbelief in her tone caused Lacey to become reticent. "I told you that you wouldn't understand," she dismissed.

"No, wait! Don't shut down on me," Clara implored her, "I'm trying to get where you're coming from but honestly, I don't understand why you're so wrapped up in this guy. I mean, he's cute and all and I'm never one to dismiss good sex but... I think it's more likely that you're infatuated with this guy right now. And that's okay if you are. If you want to see if there can be something more between you two, there's nothing stopping you. Just call him up and tell him you want to see him again."

"I can't do that."

"You've already slept with him. It's too late to get shy now."

"That's not it."

"Then what's stopping you? Mom still has all of his contact information. Or, better yet, just stop by his place and give him a midnight surprise he won't forget."

"No, you're not getting it, Clara," Lacey flared, "He doesn't want to hear from me again. That was made pretty clear to me."

"What? Is that what he told you?" Clara demanded, already drawing herself upright as if she meant to track Danny down that very second and beat him senseless, "Did he run a game on you that night, Lacey?"

"Not exactly," Lacey hedged, "He was still asleep when I left that morning. But I got the distinct impression that he does that sort of thing all the time."

"What sort of thing?"

"Brings girls home for sex and then sends them on their way."

"But you just told me that he was asleep when you left. Did you even talk to him?"

"No, I didn't. But his housekeeper was very forthcoming about the whole thing."

"His housekeeper?" Clara parroted blankly, "How does a guy your age have a freaking housekeeper?"

Lacey nibbled her lip. "Did I forget to mention that he's rich?"

"What do you mean 'rich?'"

"I mean, 'drives a sports car, lives in a huge mansion with a private gate, servants and valets' rich."

"Holy crap! Are you serious?"

"His house is amazing, Clara. It has _wings_. He lives with his father and aunt but he says that sometimes he can go days without seeing either one of them. As big as that house is, I believe it."

"Whoa."

"I looked him up too." Her admission prompted Clara to make a censorious face at her which prompted Lacey to duck her head sheepishly. "I had a weak moment, okay! Don't judge me."

"So you looked him up and what?"

"His family owns a global corporation that's involved in everything from the fashion industry to healthcare," Lacey explained, "The surgical wing of Green Grove Medical is actually named after his grandfather. Danny is his sole heir. His trust fund is speculated to be worth well over a billion dollars. He is freaking loaded."

Clara had already made the utterance once before but it bore repeating. "Whoa."

"Yeah. So now do you understand why I feel so crappy?"

"Yeah, I understand now," Clara murmured sympathetically, "Typical spoiled rich kid gets his rocks off by seducing women and discarding them like trash when he's done. Clearly this guy's an asshole, Lacey. He's not worth your tears. Forget about him."

"See, that's just the thing. I can't forget about him. Even after everything that's happened, I still feel drawn to him for some reason." Her words became thick with unshed tears as she continued, "I try not to dwell on him and what happened but, I'm having a hard time putting him out of my mind. I feel so used, Clara, and so stupid."

Clara climbed over to Lacey and gathered her in her arms just as her older sister began to break down in tears. "It's going to be okay," she whispered to Lacey soothingly, "You're never going to see him again. You'll put what happened behind you and you'll get over this."

"It doesn't feel like it," Lacey sniffled, "Somehow this hurts worse than when Chris and I broke up, which is ridiculous because Danny and I weren't even dating!"

"That's because you're clearly rebounding, Lacey," Clara told her, "It's a classic case. You were trying to find a way to stop hurting over Chris and you transferred all of your feelings for him to this new guy. I don't know how you managed to travel hundreds of miles and find a guy just as douchey as your last one but you did."

A sardonic smirk ghosted at the corners of Lacey's mouth. "Thanks a lot, Clara. That's very helpful."

"What I'm trying to say is that basically they're the same guy. You need to let yourself get over Chris and then you'll get over Danny too. Then you won't have to think about either one of them ever again."

Lacey regarded her with wet eyes filled with hopeful appeal. "You really think so?"

"I _know_ so," Clara told her, "But you were right. Sex can't fix what's wrong with you or Mom. I shouldn't have encouraged you to go after Danny and I'm sorry for that. You and Mom need to grieve. You need time to sort out all of your feelings over the breakup. I promise from now on that I will support you both however I can."

"You're a good sister, Clarabelle," Lacey whispered, hugging her hard, "I don't tell you that enough. Thank you for having my back."

"No thanks needed. You're my sister and I love you. I'll always have your back, Lacey. No matter what."


	5. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

 _How hungover are you right now?_

As Danny exited his silver BMW convertible, he squinted at the text his best friend, Archibald Yates, had just sent him, imagining the smirk that must have been on Archie's face when he wrote it. The reminder alone of the copious amounts of drinking they had done the previous night was enough to make his stomach churn sickeningly. Even contemplating the illuminated screen of his smart phone to read the text was enough to make his temples throb.

His father had flown out of town three days earlier on business which had, unfortunately, left Danny alone in his Aunt Tara's unbearable company. Being one on one with Tara usually worked out in one of two ways: either she completely ignored him or she made him her verbal punching bag. When he had been really young, the former used to devastate him. He'd find himself in a constant state of confusion and despair because his aunt, whom he wanted so much to be close to, seemed to hate him. Back then, he used to go out of his way to gain her attention, doing anything and everything he could to please her. It wasn't until Danny turned entered his teen years that he discovered that there were _far_ worse things than being ignored by Tara Desai.

These days he welcomed her inattentiveness because that was infinitely better than feeling the lash of her bitter tongue. Unfortunately, the days when he could slip under Tara Desai's radar had long since passed, not since the unsettling incident that had occurred when he was only thirteen years old. He had awakened in the small hours of the morning to find Tara pressed against him in his bed as she kissed his neck and fondled him inappropriately. The instant he realized who she was and what was going on, Danny had immediately shoved away from her in confusion and shock.

Tara, too, had seemed equally shocked by his response. To this day he wasn't sure if her reaction was born out of anger or mortification. She didn't try to come at him again after that. In fact, she claimed she had been "sleepwalking," apparently mistaking him for someone else while in her semi-conscious state. She fervidly denied being aware of her actions.

At the time, Danny had gratefully accepted the explanation for two reason. First because she had never made any improper overtures towards him before that time. And second because he was embarrassed by his body's involuntary response to her caresses. Consequently, he was as eager to bury it as she was. He never mentioned that night to Vikram and Tara never touched him that way again but, regardless, following that night his relationship with her was irrevocably altered.

She stopped ignoring him after that and, instead, he became the sole target of every bit of anger and resentment she kept stored inside. Whereas before he had only felt like a nuisance to her, after that night Danny began to believe she despised him and her hatred seemed to ramp up to unbearable degrees. When the change first occurred, Danny used to wonder if the events of that night had triggered her behavior. Did she hate him because he had rejected her or because it had happened at all? Did she blame him for it? Was he to blame? Had he sent her some sort of signal that made her believe he'd be amiable to such a thing?

Of course, the questions went unanswered. Danny never had the courage or desire to ask her. He didn't really like to think about that night because the memory filled him with shame and self-disgust. There were times when he was even able to convince himself that it hadn't happened at all. Maybe he had dreamed the entire thing up. Tara certainly never mentioned it and she definitely didn't _act_ like she harbored any sort of sexual interest in him. His entire dynamic with her was just strange and off-putting and frankly rather unpleasant.

As he grew older, he began employing various methods to avoid her and cope with his battered emotions, especially when his father was away. Regrettably, those methods usually involved sneaking out the house, underage drinking, smoking and some recreational drug use. By the time he was fifteen years old, Danny had already been brought home intoxicated and high by local law enforcement on numerous occasions and arrested twice outside of Green Grove for criminal possession of an illegal substance and underage drinking by officials who weren't so willing to overlook his behavior due to his last name. Still, both crimes earned him little more than probation and a hefty fine for his father. That was more than enough to earn his aunt's unending scorn, however.

And so they began a never-ending loop. The more Danny got in trouble, the more spitefully Tara treated him and, the more spiteful she became, the more he got into trouble. It was a twisted circle. When he was arrested a final time for attempting to purchase alcohol with a fake i.d., Tara managed to convince his father to send him away to military school. Consequently, he spent his tenth and eleventh grade year tucked away in Massachusetts and those years had been an unexpected godsend. What had seemed in the beginning like a punishment very likely saved Danny's life.

For those two years, he was Tara free and, for the first time in his life, Danny was able to gain a modicum of self-confidence and self-respect. Thankfully, Tara never accompanied Vikram when he dropped in for his monthly visits which afforded Danny with one on one time with his father, something that was a rare occurrence when Tara was in the equation. Whether by circumstance or intentional design, Tara had always seemed to monopolize Vikram's times, never once letting Danny forget that he was _her brother_ first and _his father_ second but he never had to contend with that while he was away at school.

During that time, Danny's behavior settled considerably. He cleaned up his behavior and tapered off his drug use. He remained a typical teenager in many ways but the raging rebellious streak he had displayed while home in Green Grove tempered without Tara Desai's exacerbating influence.

It was during his stint in military school that he and Archie Yates became close friends. Prior to that, Danny and Archie had only been acquaintances with one another, having attended the same private school together in their formative years. They didn't travel in the same social circles with Archie having blue collar parents who had literally scraped together every nickel they had to send Archie to the prestigious private school and Danny being a trust fund baby living a comfortable life of ease and excess. Therefore, the two hadn't had many reasons to interact with one another before crossing each other's paths again in military school. However, after a grief-stricken and out of control Archie was banished from his home following the death of his parents by his overly strict grandmother, the two boys were finally able to find common ground and became close friends.

Besides Archie Yates, the only other true friend Danny had was Jo Marie Masterson, who had been the only one, besides his father, to keep in regular contact with him after he'd been sent away. He had known Jo Masterson practically from the cradle but they didn't truly become friends until their preschool years. In many ways, Jo had been his lifeline growing up, the one person who had kept him from feeling isolated and lonely when it seemed no one else in the world cared about him.

Her father, Kyle Masterson, was the head accountant for Desai Corp and had been employed with the Desai family practically all of Danny's life. It had been Vikram's idea to arrange "playdates" between Danny and Jo since they were roughly the same age and, both being only children, lacked the camaraderie and socialization a sibling would bring. Kyle and his wife Tess had been very agreeable to the suggestion and, before long, their daughter became a regular fixture in the Desai home. Danny and Jo had become fast friends and were very much inseparable up until around the time Danny turned fourteen.

Danny's brief rebellious streak had created a great deal of tension between him and Jo. While she knew of his contentious relationship with his aunt she did not know the extent of it or what happened that night Tara climbed in his bed. As a result of that limited knowledge, Jo had viewed his behavior as the product of spoiled and willful brat which had placed a strain on their friendship. It wasn't until he went away to military school that matters improved between them. By the time he returned home for his senior year in high school, their friendship was completely restored, so much so that Danny fully believed they would be in each other's lives always. He had no inkling of the changes they both were about to undergo.

Because he was reluctant to return to the isolation he had known prior to going away, Danny had insisted on attending public school for his senior year in high school. His father had been willing to accommodate his request but Tara, predictably, had been appalled by the idea. In her estimation, Danny needed to do all that he could to make himself attractive to certain ivy league universities given his colorful past and attendance at a public school would not help matters. Though the misdemeanors he had committed as a minor hadn't earned him any real jail time, they were a matter of public record and proved to be a black mark against him when it came to college applications.

Not surprisingly, Harvard, Yale and Princeton weren't exactly beating down his door despite his relatively good grades and money. Tara fully expected him to hoop jump in order to change that. Danny, however, wasn't the least bit interested in pandering to anyone, least of all his mercurial aunt.

Instead, he made it his sole priority to enjoy his last year in high school to the fullest degree, regardless of what Tara or anyone else thought. By the end of the year, he had succeeded in his endeavor and earned a reputation as a partying playboy. Sadly, however, in achieving that status he lost his friendship with Jo and the two hadn't spoken since. That was the one, true regret Danny harbored following his senior year but, besides that, he wouldn't change a single one of his experiences.

He spent the following year "weighing his options" while his father worked tirelessly to finagle a way in for him to one of the more prestigious universities. Unfortunately, Danny's reputation as a wayward teen followed him and not even the Desai name and money could get him into some of the better schools. Strangely enough, Danny wasn't at all disappointed by that. He had never been one to flaunt his money or his name. There were some days when he liked to pretend he wasn't a Desai at all.

So, instead of opting to go to a more well known university and much to Tara's everlasting horror, he had opted to attend the small and local Green Grove University for his secular education. Even Vikram had displayed some initial reserve about Danny's decision but when Danny informed him that the decision had mostly prompted by his desire to remain close to home and to him, Vikram had relented.

Still, there was a perverse part of Danny that thrilled at the idea that his choice in schools was ultimately stressing out his Aunt Tara. He even suspected that she knew he took some joy in her discomfiture. Consequently, the two had entered into this figurative game of chicken, each of them pushing the boundaries in an effort to see who would blink first. Danny fully expected that Tara would have a full blown meltdown before she actually allowed him to enroll in classes at GGU. Tara, on the other hand, didn't believe for a single second that Danny would actually take his antagonism with her that far. She couldn't believe that he would actually attend some small, unexceptional university in an effort to spite her. She was wrong.

Practically his entire life, Tara had harangued Danny about being a "smear" on the Desai name. He was an embarrassment and a screw up. The proverbial black sheep. The nonconformist. The problem child. Those were the labels _she_ had given him. He decided that if she was so determined to paint him in such an unfavorable light then he would do his utmost to live _down_ to her expectations, especially because there was a small part of him that feared her words were true.

Invariably, however, he locked himself into a catch 22. Antagonizing Tara gave him some measure of satisfaction but it did not make being in her presence any more bearable. She grew more and more intolerable as he got older.

The situation had degenerated so thoroughly that at one point, shortly after he'd graduated high school, he had even asked his father why Tara didn't simply find her own place. It was no secret to Vikram that his son and sister had a somewhat volatile relationship. Danny had made it plain to him on several occasions that Tara didn't like him and that the feeling was wholly mutual. They were _never_ going to get along. A change in their living arrangements seemed like the easiest and most feasible solution to the problem.

Surprisingly, Vikram had been adamantly opposed to the idea. He and Tara were too close to be parted. They had lived together all of their lives. He couldn't bear to be without her.

Besides that, according to Vikram, Danny merely needed to put forth more effort to forge a relationship with Tara, rather than going out of his way to deliberately aggravate her. When Danny insisted that Tara was determined to hate him regardless of his behavior, Vikram further excused his sister by citing the "difficult upbringing" she'd endured and her "inability to show outward affection" due to her fear of being perceived as weak. Danny, Vikram insisted, needed to be patient. Consequently, he often enabled and ignored her behavior and, as a result, subjected his son to the same abusive cycle that he and his sister had endured themselves. Danny was stuck with his aunt for the foreseeable future but that was a fact he intended to change upon his 21st birthday.

His cell phone buzzed to life again, shaking him from his embittered musings. _So what do you say? Are you too hungover for shots at Geno's? They don't card. We should celebrate your birthday before I head back to school._

Danny rolled his eyes, his fingers flying over the keypad as he texted Archie back. _No can do. Registering for classes today. Besides I haven't recovered from last night. I feel like crap._

 _You need the hair of the dog._

The unappealing visual that phrase provoked caused Danny to grimace in distaste. _I'll pass on that. Thank you._ He paused a beat before he added, _Shouldn't you be getting prepared yourself? Break is almost over._

 _Why do you think I want to go out drinking? This semester is going to be a bitch. 18 credit hours._

Danny grunted a sympathetic laugh under his breath. _Overachiever._

 _The more hours I take, the less time in school, my friend._

 _Then stop trying to corrupt me with your bad influence._ _I'm trying my hand at being a responsible adult for once._

 _Good luck with that._

 _Screw you, Yates._

He expected that to be the end of the conversation but as he started on his way towards the registrar's office, his cell phone buzzed in his back pocket once more. Danny tugged it free to read Archie's latest message. _Decided on a major yet?_

 _Not yet._

 _Business and finance is a no brainer._

 _For you maybe._

 _For YOU. You're going to inherit a Fortune 500 company when you turn 21. Time to grow up._

 _Not this again. I almost nineteen, not ninety. I've got time. Besides, it's my first semester in college._

 _It should be your third._

 _Get off my back. I was finding myself._

 _You were being a slack ass. Get Tara out of your head. If you plan to run your granddad's company, you're going to need education and experience. Still think you should ask your dad for a job._

 _I'm not you. Who says I'm going to run the company anyway? My dad is perfectly capable. I trust him._

 _Your grandfather left the company to you, not your dad. You've been given something incredible, Desai. Don't waste it. Man, if I had your life..._

Danny sighed upon reading that last message. It was a lecture he'd heard from Archie countless times before but one that was becoming more frequent of late, especially since Archie had gone away to college. He and Archie were good friends but, in many ways, he didn't know Danny at all. Like most people, he took into account only outward appearances and merely assumed that Danny was being lazy or spoiled. Archie really had little inkling of the hell Danny lived through on a daily basis.

 _You're not about to start harping on me being an ungrateful ass again, are you?_

 _Nope. Not wasting my breath. You need to get it together though. Just because Tara says you're a screw up that doesn't mean you have to be one._

After their conversation was concluded, Danny had a difficult time shaking Archie's last message even after he had finished registering for his classes and procuring his final schedule. He hadn't yet informed his friend that lately he had been looking into Desai Corp's finances. Danny had wanted a general understanding of how the company was run and what interest it held but he knew that if he told Archie what he was doing his friend would start to draw wild conclusion about his actions. For Archie, Danny's decision to assume the reins of his grandfather's company was a simple one so he couldn't understand the reason for Danny's continued hesitation. Archie had no way of knowing that Danny had received his inheritance based simply on the malice of a dying, embittered old man. He wasn't certain he wanted to have any part of it, especially when he knew it would only further incur his aunt's hatred.

Plagued by indecision, Danny stood in the center of a sea of milling students, sullenly contemplating whether he should call Archie back and take him up on his offer for a drink, thereby risking further lecture or take his chances with his irascible aunt back at home. His father would, thankfully, be returning to Green Grove the following morning but 24 hours alone with Tara Desai was still 24 hours too much. Still, he wasn't exactly chomping at the bit to hear his best friend's spiel on the many ways he was wasting his life either. He was contemplating the third option of procuring a little herbal relaxation for himself when he unexpectedly caught sight of her in the crowd.

It had been a little over a week since Lacey Porter had slipped from his bed never to be seen or heard from again. All subsequent search for her had proved fruitless. His father hadn't been at all cooperative with the idea of hiring a private investigator to find her. Danny's wild hope that he might intercept her at _Johnnycakes_ again hadn't yielded anything either. Ultimately, he'd resigned himself to the possibility of never seeing her again and now there she was, looking lost and harried and standing less than twenty feet away from him.

As he started to shoulder his way through the dense crush of bodies in his path towards her, she was suddenly jostled by a group of rowdy boys. He watched as she was knocked off balance, her arm full of books spilling across the floor. Witnessing Lacey drop to her knees to retrieve her scattered items provoked a strange and strong sense of déjàvu within Danny. He stopped in his tracks, suddenly reminded of a similar incident where she had been knocked off balance.

It was Lacey and yet, at the same time, it _wasn't_ her at all. Her hair and clothing were different, something he had never seen before in his life and yet her manner of dress was also infinitely familiar to him. He could clearly see her gathering up her strewn belongings then even as she did the same thing now. In his memory, she flicked him with an impatient glance as he made his approach to her, almost sassily asking when he crouched low to regard her, "Can you give a hand, please?"

Presently, however, she didn't register his presence at all until he stooped down and inquired in a soft tone, "Do you need a hand?" He was still wrestling with himself over whether or not what he had seen was an actual memory or a hallucination brought on by his lingering hangover when she lifted her head. The moment her eyes met his felt like a punch in the gut. His breath literally leaked from his lungs in a disjointed sigh. Danny checked the impulse to brush her disheveled hair from her eyes, his fingers itching for an excuse to touch her soft skin.

Lacey jerked to attention at the sight of him, clearly as unnerved by his presence as he was by hers. She blinked at him with wide brown eyes filled with shy awkwardness, at first at a loss as to what to say to him. Finally, she managed to stammer, "Danny...hey...how...how have you been?"

"Not too great lately but...things are definitely looking up now," he returned with a tender smile, "Where have you been? I thought I would never see you again."

"Yeah, me too," she mumbled as he helped her gather the remainder of her things and then assisted her to her feet. She refrained from mentioning to him that part of her had been hoping _not_ to see him again. She had been trying, unsuccessfully, to put the humiliation she had felt the night they were together behind her and being in his presence definitely wasn't helping matters. Rather than telling him that, she squinted at him in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm registering for Fall classes...same as you, I assume."

Lacey gaped at him incredulously. "Wait a second. You go don't go _here_ , do you?"

Danny expelled a low chuckle. "Yeah. Why is that so surprising to you?"

She immediately ducked her head in an effort to regain her lost composure. "It's just...well...you have money...and well..." Lacey closed her eyes, taking a brief moment to formulate her thoughts before she spoke again. "I guess I didn't expect for someone like you to go to a school like this."

"Someone like me?"

"You know... _wealthy_ ," Lacey clarified with emphasis.

"And who said I was wealthy?"

"The sports car, designer clothes and huge house kind of gave it away," Lacey deadpanned, "I'm not an idiot, you know. I am capable of putting two and two together."

"I didn't mean to imply that you weren't and I don't think you're an idiot, Lacey. I just...I hope I didn't give off that vibe to you the night we were together. It's not something I go out of my way to flaunt, which I know sounds insincere given the type of car I drive but it was a graduation present from my father. I didn't ask for it."

"Don't worry. You didn't give off that vibe to me at all," Lacey reassured him, "I actually liked that you seemed so unpretentious about everything. It was unexpected. That still doesn't explain what you're doing at a school like this. Not that there's anything wrong with it but, why Green Grove U? I'm sure you had your pick of much better schools."

"It's a very long story." A playful smile wobbled on his lips as he regarded her. "Maybe I could tell it to you over lunch...my treat."

Once again, Lacey found herself tongue-tied in his presence. "I...I don't know..." she hedged.

He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Okay, you can pay your own way if I'm offending your feminist sensibilities here."

Lacey bit back a smile, torn between the desire to laugh or kick him in the shin. "It has nothing to do with my 'feminist sensibilities.' But you keep assuming, Desai."

"Okay, so if it's not that then why are you hesitating? You kind of owe me after the way you disappeared on me the other night. I didn't even get a kiss goodbye. I'm actually pretty wounded...don't know if I can get over it."

"Oh whatever..."

"Lunch would go a long way in soothing my broken heart," he cajoled shamelessly, "Maybe we could even have a little something sweet afterwards. It's my birthday this weekend. I can think of a better way to celebrate it."

The deliberate way his eyes dropped to her mouth and the meaningful stress he put on the words "something sweet" made it abundantly obvious to Lacey that he wasn't alluding to cake or pie either. He very obviously wanted to get her into bed again and Lacey wasn't onboard with that at all. "Yeah, about that..." she evaded lightly, "It was made pretty clear to me that you don't do second dates...if you can even call what happened between us a date."

"I'd definitely call it a date," he argued, "We had dinner. We talked most of the night. And later, we did _more_ than talk. It felt very much like a date...and I'd like another one."

"I'm surprised to hear that since she said that's where you typically like to end things."

"She? Who are we talking about here?"

"I guess she's your housekeeper."

"You mean Lepa?"

"I assume that's her. We didn't really get an opportunity to exchange names. There wasn't much time to form a bond while she was calling me a cab. If it helps to know, she was very polite when she kicked me out though so don't get all over her case on my account."

Danny groaned. "I'm sorry that happened to you. I promise you it was a misunderstanding. She didn't realize that I wanted you to stay. I wish you'd let me know that morning. I could have cleared everything up for you."

"No, it was all pretty clear to me, Danny. I don't guess it's your usual habit to have your one stands stay overnight, huh?" She tried very hard to keep her words free of bitterness and reproach but they crept in despite her best efforts.

To his credit, Danny didn't try to deny her assumption but instead replied in a quiet tone, "You weren't a one night stand, Lacey. Not even close. I wanted to see you again. I still do. I felt like we had a connection that night."

"I did too," she confessed in a muffled tone.

"So then maybe we can figure out what that means and where it leads." He stepped closer to her, his breath stirring against her ear as he leaned in and whispered, "I'd like to get to know you better."

Though it took concentrated effort on her part, Lacey took a resolute step back from him. "That's not a good idea, Danny."

He blinked at her in confusion. "Why not?"

Lacey sucked in a deep breath and forged on. "Because...I don't think we should see each other again."

"That's crazy. How can you say that when we just met?" he argued, "There's something between us, Lacey, and it's strong. I know you feel it. I don't want to walk away from that. Do you?"

"What are you trying to say to me, Danny?" Lacey challenged, "Am I really supposed to believe that I'm the only girl you've ever felt like this for?"

"You are. I've never been drawn to _anyone_ the way I'm drawn to you."

His fervent earnestness caused her heart to flutter and flip in her chest. For a second, just a fleeting second, Lacey let herself be seduced by the sweetness of her words before she brutally reminded herself of the fickle nature of his heart. She squared her shoulders and shook her head, putting further distance between them. "No. It's not a good idea," she reiterated, "You and I obviously have very different philosophies on relationships and that's going to lead to problems in the long run. You probably just want to kick back and have a good time and there's nothing wrong with that but, I know myself. My heart would get involved and, eventually, you'd break it. I can't have that."

"Seems like you're making a lot of assumptions here, Lace."

She found herself so distracted by his informal use of her name and the endearing way that he said it that it took her a moment to formulate a response. "It's not only that," she told him, "I recently broke up with someone who meant a lot to me. I'm not really over him at all and I...I think that's why I slept with you in the first place. I don't usually do things like that."

Danny digested that with a short, stunned laugh. "So I'm a rebound? Is that what you're telling me?"

She cringed at the statement. "I'm not sure I would put it quite like that. It sounds really harsh."

"But accurate."

Lacey bit her lip. "I thought I should be honest with you. It didn't really come up when we were together that night."

"No, it didn't. And why do you think that is?"

"I...I was trying not to think about him," she denied weakly.

"Really?" he challenged, "Because it didn't seem to me like this guy came up into your mind once...especially when you were in my bed."

"Do we have to talk about that?" Lacey gritted out uncomfortably.

"Obviously what happened between us still affects you."

"Because I'm embarrassed. I just want to put the whole night behind me."

"And that's all? You _honestly_ don't want to see me again?" he pressed.

"I _honestly_ think it would be a disaster," she emphasized, "So no...I don't. Sorry."

"Oh...well...thanks for telling me the truth. No point in dragging it out."

Upon detecting what sounded suspiciously like disappointment in his tone, Lacey asked almost dubiously, "I didn't hurt your feelings, did I?"

As Danny Desai had done for most of his life, he covered his pain and distress with a glib smile. "No, of course you didn't. My ego is a little bruised but I'll get over it. We had fun while it lasted. Right?"

"Right," Lacey agreed thickly.

"So maybe I'll see you around campus. Is it okay if I say 'hello?'"

"Sure," she said, "I'd like that." They shared a lingering look charged with unspoken desire before Lacey dropped her eyes and sighed, "I guess I'll see you around."

"Yeah, I'll see you around."

She turned to walk away from him then and made a deliberate choice not to turn back to look at him again, thereby missing the thoroughly dejected expression that settled on across his features when she didn't.


	6. Chapter Five

**A/N: First of all, sorry for being MIA recently. I've been dealing with some health issues lately. As a result of that, updates for this story will probably be much slower but they should still be regular. And, if everything works out the way I'm hoping it will, everything should return to normal in the next week or so. We'll see.**

* * *

 **Chapter Five**

If he hadn't been so freaking amazing in bed maybe she wouldn't feel so flustered and confused!

That was the single thought that kept tumbling through Lacey Porter's mind as she sat alone on a bench in the public courtyard of Green Grove University while taking ferocious bites out of her candy bar. Surely her preoccupation with him had to be something superficial like that. What other reason could there be for how indelibly Danny Desai had imprinted himself onto her heart and mind when she barely knew him? She was simply enamored with the sex, Lacey told herself stubbornly.

Only that morning, when she had been preparing herself for a day of registering for classes and purchasing the needed books for those classes, she had felt confident, poised and self-assured in her belief that she had forgotten all about her misbegotten night with Danny Desai. She was glad to have finally put it behind her. Three hours later, she was huddled behind a massive shrub and comfort eating her way through a bag of _Blue Ranch Potato Chips_ , a somewhat stale cinnamon roll and, presently, an extra large Snickers bar. And all of that because she'd found herself face to face with Danny Desai and discovered that she wasn't quite as finished with him as she'd first imagined.

In retrospect, she hadn't anticipated seeing him at all. She had been blindsided by that fact alone. Never once had it crossed her mind that they might end up attending the same university. There were hundreds of universities and colleges in the U.S. The odds were practically nonexistent that they would choose the same one, especially given their personal backgrounds.

Danny Desai was a wealthy trust fund brat. Lacey was the daughter of two hardworking but distinctly middle class parents. Danny had his own car and a dedicated wing to himself in his house. Lacey was often forced to borrow her mother's vehicle and, until very recent years, she had shared a bedroom with her younger sister.

She and Danny were in vastly different social circles and the likelihood of their paths ever intersecting was painfully slim. Lacey had imagined he was already well on his way back to whatever ivy league university in which he was enrolled, having forgotten about her with the same ease she was hoping to achieve in forgetting about him. There was the small possibility that she might run into him around town during certain breaks but, by then, Lacey was sure so much time would have passed that he would likely not even recognize her anyway. She had plotted the entire scenario out in her mind and, truthfully, had made her peace with it. Too bad nothing had happened in remotely the fashion she had imagined.

Lacey took another bite of her candy bar and chewed vigorously. She couldn't believe this was happening to her. Instead of having weeks to prepare herself for any incidental sighting she might have of him about town, she was faced with the probability of seeing him on campus with alarmingly regularity. Just the idea made her palms sweat.

He had seen her naked. He had kissed her and touched her in ways so intimate that her face burned with the memory of it. This was a guy who, inarguably, had sexual dalliances on such a regular basis that he had to have his staff throw women out when he was done with them. She was hardly special. And yet, she couldn't shake the expression on his face when she told him she didn't want to see him again. He'd seemed genuinely disappointed. And when he told her that he had never been drawn to another person the way he was drawn to her, he had seemed sincere then too. Lacey didn't know what to believe or how to feel.

It had been so much easier to convince herself that she didn't want to see him again when she wasn't actually _seeing_ him. But being in his presence had again released all the pent up butterflies that had run amuck in her belly the first time she had met him. Just when she had finally reached the point of accepting that her attraction to Danny was solely a product of her inability to get over Chris, he reappeared and blew that theory all to hell. Lacey hadn't thought much about Chris in recent days but Danny Desai? Thoughts of him had worn a groove in her brain.

Still, she had, at least, progressed to the point where she didn't think about him ten times a day. Her dreams of him, which sometimes placed them in wild, strange scenarios and unfamiliar locales together, were no less intense or frequent but she was growing more adept at explaining them away to herself. She told herself that because the reality of Danny was unattainable, she had created a fantasy version of him instead. The explanation made sense and, gradually, Danny was beginning to fade from her heart and head. That was exactly what Lacey wanted. Or so she thought until she found herself looking into those inescapably hypnotic eyes of his yet again and falling all over again.

A frustrated growl rumbled in her throat as she finished of the candy bar. She didn't know what was wrong with her. Could she be more pathetic? A short, ten minute conversation with him and she was right back to obsessing about him and all because he'd said he wanted to see her again, because he acknowledged feeling the same pull towards her that she felt for him. As if his desire to continue where they had left off should somehow negate the fact that he was still a known playboy and, furthermore, obviously quite hungover from a previous night of partying. It was painfully clear that he and Lacey did not share the same priorities.

The unmistakable odor of liquor had been fairly oozing from his pores as they spoke. He had squinted the entire time, as if even the artificial light within the registrar's office was too much for him. His appearance had also been somewhat disheveled, his clothing rumpled, his hair framing his face in dark, wavy tendrils. But the way he had looked at her, with such intensity and earnest desire...that was the thing that compelled Lacey and rendered all those other observations irrelevant. It hadn't mattered what he had been doing the night before because, right then, he wanted to be with her.

The connection between them was still there and still as strong as the night they had met, stronger in fact. There was something about him that remained inherently familiar to her, that continued to draw her even as her brain screamed out warnings again and again that he was dangerous to her heart. Lacey put up a hard fight to resist, however, clinging to what she knew to be true. Danny Desai would break her heart without hesitation if she gave him the opportunity. She had to protect herself, regardless of how charming and soulful he seemed, particularly now when she needed to concentrate fully on getting into nursing school.

Rather than her resolution filling Lacey with satisfaction, she was saddened and disappointed instead. She had every reason in the world to stay away from Danny but she knew instinctively she would be unable to do so. Something about him kept calling her, _drawing_ her and she felt compelled to be near him, to know him and to have him in her life in some significant way. Despite all outward appearances, she somehow knew that there was much more to Danny than the manwhore he presented. What Lacey didn't know for certain was whether her instincts on the matter were truly on point or if she was seeing only what she wanted to see. It was very possible that her desire to have him was clouding her judgment.

Then again, she also could not deny the strange pull between them. He evoked things in her that she couldn't understand. Sometimes, when she looked at him, she had strange glimpses of another version of him at times bedecked in a crown, his dark eyes lined with kohl and, at others times dressed in the strange, simple garb of an ancient peasant and none of those visions made an ounce of sense. Yet, both versions of him were as compelling and familiar to her as the one standing before her. Lacey couldn't really explain it. She had never been one to truly entertain the notion of soulmates or past lives but when she stood with Danny in the registrar's office earlier that was the thing that kept coming to her mind again and again and again.

She scoffed to herself as the soon as the thought manifested itself to her. Did she honestly believe that Danny Desai was her soulmate, that somehow she knew him in a past life? The idea was completely absurd, not to mention lacking in any scientific evidence whatsoever! It was more likely that she was simply grasping onto any and every excuse she could to justify her reasoning for sleeping with Danny in the first place and, if she was honest with herself, wanting to do it again.

Lacey was so aggravated with herself that she was seriously considering making yet another junk food run to the nearest vending machine when a pretty, curly haired blonde girl in baggy cargo pants and a camo jacket suddenly plopped down beside her on the bench. She did a disbelieving doubletake when the stranger greeted her with a sighing, "Hey. How's it going? Taken by surprise by the girl's unceremonious approach and a little wary of her bizarre friendliness as well, Lacey replied rather tentatively, "Hello. Can I help you?"

The blonde girl thrust out her hand to Lacey. "I'm Jo."

Maintaining her cautious demeanor, Lacey gamely reached out to shake the girl's hand. "I'm Lacey."

"Good to meet you, Lacey. I haven't seen you around Green Grove before," Jo said, "I think I would have noticed you. It's a small community. Are you new?"

Under the mistaken impression that the girl was attempting to hit on her, Lacey anxiously wracked her brain for the most diplomatic approach in staving off Jo's advances. Finally she said, "Listen, Jo, I'm sure you're a great girl and everything but...I'm into guys... _just_ guys," she concluded with firm emphasis.

Jo blinked at her with wide, confused blue eyes before Lacey's implication finally dawned on her. She balked dubiously when it did. "Oh my God! You think I'm coming on to you?"

"Well, aren't you?" Lacey huffed defensively.

"No!" she cried, "I was in the registrar's office earlier and I saw you talking to Danny."

"Oh, I see what this is now..." Lacey murmured, the reason for the girl's approach becoming clear to her at last. "Look, if this is your attempt to lay some kind of claim on Danny, don't bother. There's nothing going on between us. He and I are barely acquaintances."

"Yeah, that's what they all say right before he gets them into bed," Jo snorted, "Believe me. I know how smoothly he operates better than anyone in the world."

Lacey was unprepared for the quick burst of jealousy that flared in her chest with that statement. She masked the emotion behind a stony facade of indifference. "I'm sorry you got your heart broken or whatever but I don't see what that has to do with me."

"Like I said, you're obviously new around here," Jo reiterated, "It's not likely you're familiar with the reputation Danny Desai has. I figured I would warn you."

"Warn me?" Lacey crossed her arms in challenge, her breath escaping her in a skeptical snort. "About what exactly?"

"Danny is a whore and liar and a druggie. He's got a really smooth tongue and he's very good at using it too but, everything he does is for his own benefit. You're asking for trouble if you get involved with him. He'll suck you dry."

"Wow..." Lacey muttered, "He must have really done a number on you. I can't figure out if you hate him that much...or if you're still in love with him."

"Neither. Look, I'm very well aware that what I'm doing right now reeks of jealous ex-girlfriend and I probably look and sound like a lunatic to you," Jo acknowledged rather tartly, "Honestly, I wrestled with myself about approaching you at all but... I just couldn't stand aside and watch Danny tear through yet another girl's heart. He's bad news. You deserve to know what you're getting into."

"What are you? A superhero in disguise? The nookie police? You don't even know me! Why would you care?"

Jo's lips compressed in a thin line of displeasure. For a moment, Lacey expected that she would surge to her feet and flounce away in affront but instead she surprised Lacey by answering her question. "I know how it feels to fall in love with him," she admitted gruffly, "It's ridiculously easy. He has this vulnerability about him that makes you want to protect him and he can be very charming. He says and does all the right things and you think you have this incredible connection with him. You think that he wants and feels what you want and feel and then...he tells you he can't 'commit' like you need him to and he walks away. That's how Danny operates. You can't believe a word that comes out of his mouth!"

"Is that what happened to you?"

She jerked a reluctant nod. "I thought he loved me. Turns out the joke was on me."

Lacey dropped her eyes then, trying to blot out the veracity of Jo's words because her description of Danny was exactly the impression he had made upon her. She didn't need to be told how easy it was to fall for Danny Desai. She was already experiencing the phenomenon firsthand. Her sympathy in that regard had her softening her tone towards Jo. "I'm sorry you were hurt," she told Jo once again, only with more sincerity this time, "But I'm not you. Even if I were interested in Danny...and I'm _not_ ," she added, more for her own benefit than Jo's, "Just because it didn't work out for you that doesn't mean my experience with him would be the same. So really, you're wasting your time right now."

Jo surveyed her with a penetrating stare. "I'm not an idiot, you know. I saw the way you were looking at him before... _and_ the way he was looking at you. You want him. That's pretty clear. Don't insult my intelligence by trying to convince me otherwise."

"So you _are_ a jealous ex after all," Lacey concluded with a short, derisive laugh. She discarded her trash in a nearby receptacle, grabbed her backpack and shifted to her feet. "Listen, I just moved here a little more than a week ago. I'm not trying to be put in the middle of some kind of fatal attraction love triangle, okay! You want Danny? He's _all_ yours. Leave me out of it."

As she started to walk away, Jo called after her, "I've known Danny since I was a kid. We grew up together. My dad has worked for Desai Corp my entire life. There was a time when I thought I knew him better than anyone in the world. Until a year ago, he was my best friend...but then he told me that he loved me, took my virginity and then wrote the entire thing off as a meaningless hookup. He _gutted_ me...someone's he's known practically his entire life! If he did that to me, what do you think he's going to do to you? Forgive me for trying to spare you that same humiliation!"

Lacey whirled to face her with a scoffing laugh. "Now who's lying? This has nothing to do with me and _everything_ to do with you staking your claim to Danny! You follow him around campus, lurking to see what girls he might be interested in and then you approach them with your sob story in hopes of scaring them away and keeping him to yourself. It's pathetic! Don't you have any pride at all?"

"You're wrong!" Jo retorted, "I don't want Danny back in my life. I haven't spoken to him in six months."

"Right. Whatever you say."

"I'm trying to help you! I thought you'd appreciate the heads up. Silly me."

"From my viewpoint, it seems like you're only helping yourself."

"To what?"

"To a guy who obviously doesn't want you."

"Screw you!"

"Hey, I'm not the one following my ex-boyfriend around like some lovesick loser! That's your issue!"

"Way to miss the entire point! I was there registering for my classes just like you and I just _happened_ to see you talking with him. I'm not stalking him if that's what you're trying to imply."

"I didn't say that. You did."

"Fine. You wanna get involved with him and let him stomp all over your heart? Be my guest. Don't say I didn't warn you."

"I'll repeat this for you," Lacey intoned softly, "There is nothing between me and Danny. We hung out once and had a good time. That's it. So you can stop treating me like I'm competition."

Jo sneered at her. "You're a real bitch. I almost think you deserve what's coming to you."

"And on that note...it's been a real pleasure meeting you," Lacey replied with artificial sweetness, "Hopefully, we won't be doing this again anytime soon. Buh-bye now." She walked away then, adding "crazy, ex-girlfriend" to the growing list of reasons why she shouldn't get involved with Danny Desai.

Unfortunately, shaking off her unsettling encounter with Jo wasn't as easily accomplished as simply walking away from the girl. Her words of warning about Danny continued to echo in Lacey's brain throughout the remainder of the afternoon. Though she tried very hard to write Jo off as little more than a bitter ex-girlfriend, it was difficult to do so when the girl had voiced aloud Lacey's own secret concerns. She hadn't really told Lacey anything she didn't already know. They were simply truths she hadn't wanted to hear.

Lacey was still thinking about those particular truths when she arrived in the Emergency Department of Green Grove Memorial Hospital later that afternoon for her first volunteer session. Determined to put both Jo _and_ Danny out of her mind, Lacey straightened her back and prepared to give her best first impression. She was laying the groundwork for her entrance into nursing school and she couldn't afford to allow anything to distract her, not even an intensely good-looking Indian boy with an incredible smile and especially not his crazy nut of an ex. The last thing Lacey was expecting was to come face to face again with the latter. Unfortunately, that was _exactly_ what happened.

She rolled her eyes in dismay the instant she walked into the nurses' station and discovered Jo sitting at one of the computer cubicles. "You have got to be kidding me!" she huffed in aggravation, "Not you again! Are you following me now?"

Jo gave an eye roll of her own. "Please get over yourself. I volunteer here as part of my preparation for medical school," she spat disdainfully, "Five days a week for the last _three years_. Maybe _you're_ the one who's following _me_."

Ignoring that barb with a dismissive wave of her hand, Lacey shifted her books in her arms and reached into her pocket to consult her orientation schedule for the day. "Listen, I'm looking for J.M. Masterson," she said, "That's the person who's training me. So just point me in the right direction and we can go back to ignoring each other."

"Unfortunately, we can't. You're looking for J.M. Masterson?" Jo replied ironically, "That's me. _Jo Marie_ Masterson, at your service. I guess that means that you're Lacey Porter."

Lacey groaned under her breath. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me. _You're_ the one who's orienting me?"

"It appears so."

Clearly repulsed by the idea, Lacey folded her arms obstinately. "You're not training me. I want someone else."

"There is no one else," Jo told her, "I'm the one designated to train new volunteers because I've got the most seniority. If you have a problem with that you'll have to take it up with volunteer services." She speared Lacey with flinty blue eyes full of challenge. "So what's it gonna be?"

Lacey's pride rebelled at the thought of allowing this girl to train her in anything. First of all, she was a catty, manipulative bitch. And secondly, Lacey suspected she might also be out of her mind. Based on those two observations, there was a part of Lacey that wanted to tell Jo to kiss her ass and walk out of there. The other, more practical part of her, however, knew that having some form of hospital experience, even if only on a voluntary basis, would go a long way in helping her chances for nursing school. She couldn't afford to burn bridges before she had even begun building them. And, unfortunately, Jo Marie Masterson was one of the keys to building those bridges.

"Fine," Lacey finally agreed from between clenched teeth, "Let's get this over with."

The next hour proved to be more than a little tense as Jo gave Lacey a tour of the emergency department and then the remainder of the hospital, explaining to her the duties that would be expected of her along the way. Occasionally, the minimal conversation between them was interspersed with thinly veiled insults but, for the most part, their exchanges remained strictly professional. According to Jo, Lacey's responsibilities would mostly involve keeping patient's well stocked in blankets, directing them to the bathroom and escorting to and from their treatment rooms. She would also serve as a glorified errand girl for the nurses and techs.

It didn't sound especially glamorous but Lacey hadn't held that expectation anyway. She was mostly looking forward to the opportunity to learn. After all, this was what she planned to do for the rest of her life. She wanted to glean as much as she could.

Thankfully, Jo had no more desire to be in Lacey's company than Lacey had to be in hers. Therefore, she assigned Lacey to the front desk triage area of the department while she stayed in the back. At first, that idea suited Lacey just fine as she was simply grateful to have Jo out of her face. However, she quickly realized that triage was typically _not_ where the action happened. Chest pains, possible strokes, car accident victims and traumas all arrived by ambulance and those were delivered straight to the back. Jo got to see all of the good stuff that truly made up emergency medicine while Lacey was relegated to the "life-threatening" toe pains, sore throats and ear infections. If she had thought she couldn't possibly hate Jo Masterson more that she already did clearly Lacey was wrong.

By her third hour on shift, Lacey was bored out of her mind and was left with very little to do. She occupied herself by reviewing the assigned chapters for her upcoming classes. She had just finished reading _An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge_ for her literature assignment when the ER automated doors suddenly whooshed open and a harried, bedraggled boy came running inside.

He was pale and sweaty with a glassy eyed stare and fidgety demeanor. Lacey was almost certain _he_ was the patient until he yelled, "Can I get a little help here? My friend's in the car! I think he might have o'd!"

Lacey surged to her feet, her blood pumping with anticipation as the nurse and tech scurried outside to retrieve their patient. The thought of witnessing her first real cardiac arrest gave her an adrenaline surge. However, her excitement over the prospect quickly turned to horror when the nurse and tech reappeared with the patient in a wheelchair and she saw how awful he looked. She actually thought he was dead. His head was slung back and he was slumped down in the chair, obviously unconscious...or worse. He was soaking wet, as if his friend's first recourse had been to dump him in the shower in order to revive him. But, what even more alarming was the sick, gray pallor of his skin. Lacey had never seen anyone that color before in her life.

She was already reeling but her horror swiftly became outright terror when she realized she recognized the patient. It was Danny. Filled with panic, Lacey stood by helplessly as the emergency team sprang into action.

"Someone find Jo and tell her to get to the trauma room now!" the nurse yelled as she swiftly wheeled Danny past, "Her boyfriend's back again!"

As everyone scrambled to get Danny into the trauma room, Lacey remained rooted in place, torn between wanting to follow them and feeling as if she had no place in doing so. However, the need to run after him was strong, confusing and intensely frightening. Not simply because someone with whom she was vaguely acquainted might possibly die that night but because...he mattered to her. She didn't understand why or how but, Danny Desai mattered to her and the thought of him dying literally made her feel sick to her stomach.

But she couldn't move from her spot. Fear had rendered her immobile. There were a dozen questions tumbling through her brain at the moment, the most pertinent being, "Is he going to die?" but she was too scared to voice it aloud, too scared to know the answer. What frightened her the most, however, was the sheer devastation she knew she would feel if he did.

Overwhelmed with the need to do something productive, she bounced an anxious glance around for the friend who had brought Danny in. She might not be able to physically be at Danny's side right then but she could at the very least discover what exactly he had taken and how much of it he had. The doctors and nurses were too busy trying to stabilize him to find that information out for themselves. They didn't have time to ask the friend questions but Lacey did. She was anxious for some answers for both professional and personal reasons. Unfortunately, a quick search for the friend throughout the department turned out to be a fruitless one.

After scanning the parking lot just outside of the department, Lacey returned to the triage area and questioned the registration clerk about whether she had seen where Danny's friend had gone. Lacey didn't think she had missed him when they were wheeling Danny to the back but it was possible. At the time, she had been so distracted with worry that she hadn't been able to process anything beyond the flaccid boy in the wheelchair. However, the registration clerk reassured her that she hadn't missed a thing.

"That's usually what they do with him," she explained to Lacey, "It's the same every time. They dump him and run."

Lacey blinked at her in disbelieving dismay. "You mean this has happened before?"

"Oh honey, you volunteer here long enough, you'll learn. Danny Desai is one of our frequent flyers. He's always here, either drunk or high...sometimes both. It's pretty sad. He's so young and he's already ruining his life."

Immediately, the warning that Jo had issued to her earlier that afternoon reverberated in Lacey's ears. _Danny is a whore and liar and a druggie. You're asking for trouble if you get involved with him. He'll suck you dry_. Lacey forcibly shook off the memory of that ominous prediction to ask, "Do you think he'll be okay?"

The clerk shrugged. "He usually is. Then again, I've never seen him look that bad before."

Lacey had an impossible time concentrating after that. While feigning absorption in whatever task she could find with which to busy herself, she was very cognizant of catching any snippets she could about Danny's condition. Half an hour later she was relieved to discover that he had been revived and was stabilized now. They had even moved him from the trauma room and were speaking about discharge.

That wasn't necessarily the attending physician's recommendation, however. He wanted to keep Danny overnight for observation but Danny apparently wasn't amiable to that idea. He wanted to go home. And since he was denying wanting to hurt himself or others, the staff had no other recourse except to let him. Currently, they were waiting to see if he could procure a ride home in order to secure his release. Lacey also learned, much to her consternation, that Jo hadn't left his bedside since he'd been brought in. On the one hand, she was glad to know he wasn't alone. On the other, she was aggravated that Jo would continue to linger when she'd had absolutely nothing good to say about Danny at all. She tried not to dwell too closely on why it bothered her so much.

As her shift began to wind down, Lacey had an increasingly difficult time steering clear of Danny's treatment room. She wanted to peek in on him, at least. If she saw with her own eyes that he was truly okay then she could go home with some peace of mind and maybe walk away from the situation once and for all. But she was reluctant to approach him for two reasons. Firstly because she and Danny did not have the type of relationship that would warrant her being at his bedside at such a vulnerable time. Secondly because he already had someone at his bedside.

She told herself over and over that it hardly mattered to her at all but with every incidental pass she took past Danny's patient room, Lacey grew more and more anxious. Finally, her curiosity got the better of her and, after dropping off a blanket to another patient, Lacey found herself lingering outside of his door to listen in on his conversation with Jo. She tipped a furtive glance around the corner just in time to see him make an uncoordinated grab for Jo's wrist to keep her from leaving. Lacey repressed the wave of jealousy that rose within her.

"...please don't go yet," she heard Danny entreat Jo plaintively as she positioned herself closer. His words had a slurred quality to them but were still understandable. It was clear to Lacey, however, that despite being awake and talking that Danny was still very intoxicated. "I don't want it to be like this between us," he slurred presently, "I miss you. It shouldn't be like this between us, Jo."

"Maybe you should try making better choices then," Jo replied, "I didn't do this to us, Danny. _You_ did and pulling crap like this all of the time isn't helping!"

"I'm trying, Jo. I really am."

"No, you're not! God, Danny! You haven't changed at all!" she accused him, "You'd think by now I would have learned! You're still the same selfish asshole you've always been!"

"You've never going to forgive me for what happened, are you...even though I said 'sorry' over and over?"

"This has nothing to do with what happened that night!"

"Don't freaking lie! You know it does. I was drunk and stupid that night, Jo. I didn't know it meant so much to you."

"That's no excuse! You're _always_ drunk."

"Not always," he argued blearily.

"It was my first time, Danny, and it was with _you_! Of course, it meant something to me."

"If I could take back that night and give it back to you..."

"Oh my God, just stop talking!" Jo uttered mournfully, "Saying stuff like that definitely doesn't help."

"What do you want me to say? You know I care about you, Jo. You know how important you are to me. I need you in my life. It's killing me that you hate me. Please don't hate me."

"I don't hate you, Danny," she replied gruffly, "I just don't like you very much right now." A taut silence passed between them before she added, "Look, I tried calling your dad to let him know what's going on with you but I couldn't reach him. Do you know where he is?"

"He's in Shanghai on business. I don't want him to know about this."

"He _needs_ to know! You overdosed tonight, Danny! You were gray and breathing about four times a minute when they brought you in! You could have died! You nearly did."

"But I didn't. I'm fine. I'll just call Archie and he can pick me up."

"I already did that. He's drunk off his ass too. He's in no condition to drive you anywhere."

Lacey watched as Danny wilted back into his pillow with a disappointed groan. "Damn it. I can't be stuck in here overnight."

"You won't be," Jo replied, "I called Tara. She's already on her way here anyway."

Danny's reaction to that news was volatile to say the least. He bit out a sharp expletive under his breath. "Why the freaking hell would you call her? She's the last person I want here! She's just gonna lay into me all night! You know that, Jo!"

"Who else is going to come for you? Your dad isn't here and you need a way home," Jo argued, "You're in no condition to drive."

"Can't you take me? I don't want to deal with Tara right now."

"I still have an hour left on my shift but, even if I didn't, I wouldn't take you home. We've already been through this, Danny. We're not friends anymore. We're not anything. I'm done."

"So you're really going to write me off completely? We've been friends practically our whole lives! Doesn't that mean anything to you anymore?"

"It meant _everything_ to me," Jo whispered thickly, " _You_ meant everything. I thought we could be something more but that was when I used to believe in you. I don't anymore."

"Then why the hell are you even here?" he raged furiously, "Get the hell out then, Jo!"

"Fine! I will! But just remember you did this to yourself, Danny."

Lacey snapped to attention, desperately glancing about for something to busy herself with when she realized Jo was about to exit the room. She wasn't quick enough because almost the second she started to dark away, Jo emerged from the treatment cubicle. She surveyed Lacey with narrowed eyes. Lacey managed to meet her stare despite the rampaging guilt she felt.

"Do you always make a habit of eavesdropping on private conversations?" Jo demanded tartly.

"I...I was just heading back up front," Lacey stammered in explanation, "and I heard you two talking. I just wanted to make sure he was okay."

Though it was clear she didn't believe Lacey's explanation at all, Jo didn't push the issue. Instead, she warned Lacey in a weary tone, "Be careful not to get sucked in. He's very good at making you care about him. Not so good at caring back."

Lacey watched her walk away with a defeated sigh and started to turn on her heel and leave in the opposite direction when she heard a faint, "Lacey?" come from the interior of Danny's treatment room. She froze mid-step and pivoted around to find Danny seated upright on his hospital stretcher and squinting at her in disbelief. "Are you really standing there or am I just really, really drunk right now?"

"You are really, _really_ drunk," Lacey confirmed for him wryly, "But I am standing here."

"Then come in. Come in," he invited, beckoning her forward as if he were inviting her to lunch, "It's been a whole day...I think. We gotta catch up."

Against her better judgment, Lacey ventured inside, promising herself that she would only stay a few minutes and that was all. As she approached his bedside, he favored her with an endearing, lopsided smile. "So...we meet again, Ms. Porter," he drawled, "I do believe it's fate."

"I think it had less to do with _fate_ and more to do with whatever the hell it was you took tonight," Lacey replied pointedly.

"Vicodin and Jack Daniels...probably not a good idea to mix the two."

"Probably not," Lacey agreed, unsmiling. Her somber response managed to chasten Danny and his own smile faded a bit as well. "You scared me. I thought you were going to die for a minute there," she remarked softly, "You look a lot better than you did when they brought you in." That was a vast understatement. His color had improved remarkably. His wet clothing had been removed and replaced with a clean, dry hospital gown.

For the most part, he looked ridiculously healthy. Were it not for the fact that she had witnessed it herself, Lacey might have doubted that he had ever been near death that night. Still, she couldn't help but be angry with him for having placed himself in that position in the first place. "What were you thinking?" she demanded in a furious whisper, "Were you _trying_ to kill yourself?"

"Believe it or not, I was trying to feel _good_."

"And the only way you can do that is to pop pills and drink ridiculous amounts of alcohol?"

"It's the only time I can forget how unhappy I am," he replied. While she was still reeling over that uninhibited confession, Danny asked, "How did you know I was here?"

"I was out front when they brought you in," Lacey explained, "Remember I told you that I was trying to get into nursing school the night we met? Well, I volunteer here..." she paused a beat before adding rather meaningfully, "...with Jo."

Danny became strangely quiet with the admission. He picked at the nonexistent lint on his bed sheet as a means of avoiding Lacey's gaze. "Oh..." he uttered finally, "So you've met Jo, huh? I guess, after what happened tonight, she's given you an earful about me."

"Actually, she talked to me before all of this happened." Danny pinned her with a surprised look. "She saw us talking earlier in the registrar's office," Lacey clarified, "and thought she would set me straight on all things Danny Desai."

"I'll just bet she did," he mumbled.

"So far, nothing she told me seems like it was a lie," she observed softly, "I've only known you a week and you're already turning my life inside out."

Rather than mounting a fervent denial at the charge, Danny slouched down in the stretcher. He leaned his head back into his pillow and closed his eyes. "It wasn't a lie," he admitted gruffly, "Everything she told you about me is completely true. I'm no good. Trust me. I'm a complete waste of space. Jo's not the only one who thinks so. You definitely did the right thing washing your hands of me before."

Lacey folded her arms across the top of his bedrail and leaned in closer to regard him with a tender expression. "Now why is it that I think that there's so much more to you than that, Danny Desai?" she whispered.

"If you're looking for something good in me, I think you're going to be looking a long time."

She grunted in response. "You're just feeling sorry for yourself," Lacey admonished him, "How can you expect other people to believe in you when you don't believe in yourself?"

"It's not that simple."

"Yeah, poor little rich boy born with a silver spoon in his mouth and every amenity possible," Lacey derided him softly, "Your life must be _so_ tough, Danny. How do you make it through the day?"

Without ever opening his eyes, his mouth quirked in a humorless smile. "You would think that," he murmured, "but sometimes it feels like having the Desai name was the worst thing to ever happen to me. If I could be someone else, I would... _anyone else_ but this."

Despite all of her earlier resolve, Lacey felt herself softening towards him. Jo had been right. Danny Desai was very adept at making people care. It was rather frightening how much she had grown to care about him already.

She regarded him with a mournful look. It wasn't mere self-pity that she was detecting in Danny's tone but something much deeper than that. He sounded almost... _depressed_ , which seemed incongruent given the kind of lifestyle he led. Before she could pass the thought through her mental filter, Lacey found herself voicing the theory aloud. "You almost sound as if you hate yourself."

With his inhibitions and tongue loosened by the effects of alcohol, Danny readily confessed, "There are times when I do."

Lacey swallowed past the acrid lump of tears his words provoked. "It makes me sad to hear that, Danny. No matter what you've done or how badly you've screwed up, no one deserves to be unhappy. I wish there was something I could do to fix this for you."

His eyes fluttered open at the question and the look he gave her when he did caused Lacey's breath to suspend in her lungs. She wasn't quite prepared for the moment when he lifted his hand to caress her cheek with loving familiarity but did nothing to shake off his touch once he had. In fact, she covered his hand with her own. He stared up at her with a dreamy expression.

"You never change, do you?" he whispered, "You're always trying to protect me. You never give up, even when it's clear you should. But I've missed that. I've missed _you_ , Suhad."

Their tender exchange should have been ruined with his statement. After all, it was painfully clear he was too confused and too inebriated to even know what he was saying. And, worse yet, he had just called her by another woman's name. That was the veritable kiss of death. Yet, for some inexplicable reason Lacey wasn't overcome with righteous indignation or the desire to storm from the room and never speak to him again. Because, in that moment, Danny Desai seemed neither drunk nor confused. He was almost frighteningly lucid and the name which he had called her hadn't felt unfamiliar at all. Oddly enough, it felt _right_ and it was that confusing acknowledgement which finally compelled Lacey to pull away from his touch and take a nervous step back from his bed. The instant she did, the moment between them dissipated entirely.

"You're drunk," she told him firmly, "You should sleep it off. You don't even know what you're saying right now."

"You're right," he agreed, "I had a weird moment just now." Danny then complied with her edict and closed his eyes once more. "Will I see you again tomorrow?" he asked her.

"Only if you decide to pull another stunt like you did tonight," Lacey told him, "and I'd rather you not do that again, please."

"So noted," he grunted on a laugh, "Well, if this is the last time I speak to you...I just want to say thank you, Lacey."

"For what?" she whispered.

"For caring about me when you don't have to," he murmured softly as he finally began to drift off, "There are few people in my life who actually do."


	7. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

"How am I supposed to defend you when you keep proving every word Tara says about you to be true?"

Danny cringed at the accusation and pressed himself deeper into the sofa that decorated his father's downtown, satellite office. It was a lecture he'd heard from his father in at least a dozen different iterations but it had become no less frustrating and heartbreaking every time he heard it. The state of his family's affairs would always be _his_ fault, never Tara's.

He couldn't blame Vikram entirely for his reaction, however. After all, he was the one who had nearly died of an overdose. _He_ was the perpetual screw-up. He certainly couldn't expect his father to support him unconditionally when he was continually landing himself either in the hospital or jail for his misbehavior. However, what Vikram couldn't seem to grasp was that Danny's actions didn't stem from some deep-rooted need to aggravate his Aunt Tara but his desperation to escape her.

When he thought about the vile and callous manner in which she had treated him when she finally deigned to show up at the hospital the night before, Danny flinched inwardly. She hadn't come inside personally to see to his discharge. That would have been much too humiliating for her. Instead, she had sent in one of the company's retained attorneys in her stead. She had wanted to impress upon the staff and the hospital that she would not hesitate to bring legal action against them should news of Danny's indiscretion be made public.

She didn't care to hear the doctor's recommendations for a treatment center for Danny or his warnings that her nephew would likely end up dead if some sort of intervention did not take place. Tara Desai's main concern was that the Desai name, which was highly respected not only in the state of New York but globally, would remain untainted. Beyond that, she had few concerns for anything else. A fact she had impressed upon Danny when he finally joined her in the limousine...right after she had delivered a brutal slap across his face.

"Next time I'll let them lock you up," she had hissed angrily, "and to hell with how it looks in the media!"

Presently, Danny touched the tender spot beneath his eye where her diamond ring had nicked him. He addressed his father with solemn eyes. "Listen, I understand you've been upset. know I've been a problem lately..." he began diplomatically.

"A problem?" Vikram scoffed before he could finish, "Daniel, you've been arrested twice in the last six months. Last night was the fourth time you've landed in the hospital this year alone! God knows where your car is right now! We should be discussing the details for your birthday celebration this weekend, not covering up yet another one of your reckless acts!"

"The car is with a friend, Dad!" Danny burst out, "I already told you that I took care of that as soon as I was sober."

Vikram grunted his skepticism. "A friend? Do you mean the same friend who dumped you at the hospital and then took off without a backwards glance? The same friend who has no qualms about spending your money on drugs and alcohol but then can't be bothered to stay at your side while you're in the hospital? Are you referring to that friend?"

"Archie. I told him where to find the car. Fortunately, I still had the keys on me so you don't have to worry that someone at the party took it for joyride."

Hardly mollified by that reassurance, Vikram went to stand over at the large bay window that overlooked the bustling, downtown streets below. "Oh yes, Archibald Yates. He's not as blatant a user as some of your other more unsavory acquaintances but, in my opinion, he's not much better."

"Archie is my best friend!" Danny flared, "More often than not, he's had my back this year when no one else did! I'm not going to sit here and let you badmouth him. If I had been with him last night instead of that stupid party we wouldn't even be having this conversation right now."

"Hmm...yes, it's amazing how much Mr. Yates has endeared himself to you. It's puts him in a prime position, don't you think?"

"A prime position for what exactly?"

"To accept your gratitude...however you wish to express it."

"Really, Dad?" Danny sighed impatiently, "You're going to do this again?"

"That young man wants what you have, Daniel. He envies you. He covets your life. When and if the opportunity arises, he will try to take what's yours. You need to be careful."

"You don't know what you're talking about. Archie looks out for me. He actually wants me to succeed."

"Is that what he tells you? When will you learn that you cannot trust everyone, Danny? No one in this world is without ulterior motive, not even those you deem to call your friends. You should remember that it is _your family_ who has your best interests at heart."

"Not in my experience," Danny snorted, "Besides, you're wrong. Archie isn't like that! I can trust him."

"And that's where _you're_ wrong," his father told him, "The truest lesson you can ever learn is that you can never trust _anyone_ , son, at least not completely."

"Even you?" Danny challenged.

"Even me."

Danny shook his head in dismissal of that. "That's your truth, Dad. Not mine."

Vikram favored him with a humorless smile. "Truth, my son, is a matter of perception."

Those words sounded in Danny's ears as if trapped by in a whirring vortex. He was left immobilized by them not because of the possible wisdom they might contain but because he was certain he had heard them before. Danny's breath became rapid and shallow with the thought, his body suddenly felt cold and clammy as the world around him seemed to reduce into nothing. His reality seemed to blur with his imagination and, for an instant, when he looked at his father, he didn't see a virile, dark-haired man of middle age but instead an older man with a bald head, shrewd eyes outlined with deep black color and a secretive countenance. _Ay_.

The name came to Danny unbidden, meaningless and yet full of meaning at the same time. Unfortunately, the moment he tried to grasp hold of the memory to make sense of what he was seeing and feeling, it dissipated, leaving him with swamping confusion instead. The unexplained visions had been happening with increasing frequency lately, most especially after he had been drinking. Danny wondered vaguely if his overindulgence with alcohol and recreational drug use was beginning to have an effect of him neurologically. Or maybe the years of repressing his emotions was finally starting to catch up with him and he was going crazy as a result. What other explanation could there be for the fragmented images that kept popping up into his mind unbidden?

Yet, even as he tried to explain it away to himself, Danny felt an inexplicable wariness creep up into his heart as he regarded his father, a sudden mistrust for his father that he had never felt before. He couldn't be sure if that was because of the confusing vision he'd just experienced or his father's words of warning on the subject. Whatever the reason, he now had an uneasiness in Vikram's presence. While Danny tried to shake off the feeling and concentrate on what was being said to him, Vikram continued with his lecture, unaware of Danny's conflicted thoughts.

"None of this would be a concern at all if you displayed a bit more restraint, Danny," he scolded, "You shouldn't need encourage to make good decisions. You're not a child anymore, for goodness' sake! Grow up."

"Dad, I know that it seems to you that I'm being spoiled and selfish right now but, that's not it." He paused a moment to clear his throat of the emotion that had begun to gather there. "I know you probably won't believe it but...I don't want to be this way."

Vikram angled a dubious glance at Danny over his shoulder. "Then why do you persist in this behavior? I don't understand it! You have every possible comfort and opportunity!"

"You know already why."

Not surprisingly, his father groaned and threw up his hands, pivoting to face Danny fully. "Oh, not this excuse again. You're old enough to know better!"

"It's not an excuse! It's the truth," Danny insisted fervidly, "Tara is a nightmare! I can't live with her anymore, Dad. I've tried to do things your way. I really have tried. It's not working. Something has to give!"

"Tara is your family! She's my sister! You can't expect me to just turn her out!"

"She has money! It's not like you're putting her out in the street! She can live anywhere she chooses! It doesn't have to be with us!"

"She grew up in that house! She's earned the right to live there, Daniel!"

"And what about me? What have I earned, Dad? Don't you get it? Tara hates me. I don't know why but, she does. And I can't take it anymore!"

"Perhaps if you didn't go out of your way to deliberately piss her off, you wouldn't have to-,"

"-You always say that and that's not what's happening! I'm not _trying_ to piss her off!" Danny protested sharply, "I'm trying to avoid her! I'm trying to _escape_ her! Sometimes being drunk or high is the only way I can do it!"

"That's ridiculous!" Vikram scoffed, "You're shifting the blame just like you always do."

"I'm not trying to say that she makes me take drugs but...even when I'm not home, she's in my head. I hear her all the time. And when I'm home, it's unbearable. I'm trying to cope the best way I know how."

"Daniel, you have a substance abuse problem. That is not is on Tara. That is on you."

"You don't get it."

"On the contrary, I do. It's easier for you to blame your aunt for your failures than for you to do some personal self-reflection. That's all you're doing right now."

"Is that really what you think? Dad, come on! I shouldn't have to walk on eggshells in my own home! It's not fair!"

"And you believe that asking my sister to leave her childhood home because _you_ have a drug problem _is_ fair?" Vikram challenged.

"This was happening long before the drugs. You don't know how she is because she's never like that with you," Danny argued, "It's different with me. She's never said a kind word to me, not once in my entire life! The _one_ time she touched me with affection it was because..." he tried off into silence, thinking better of finishing that statement.

There was little point in revealing that particular tale to Vikram. Somehow, Danny knew that if he told his father what happened the night Tara had climbed into bed with him, Vikram would blame him for it just as he blamed him for everything else. Once Danny had made the decision to keep it to himself, he took a few seconds to recollect his thoughts before he continued, careful with his words from that moment onward. "I know that Tara resents me," he told Vikram, "It's like she blames me for what happened with Grandfather, as if I influenced him somehow! Which is freaking ridiculous because I was _three years old_ when he died! It's not my fault!"

"Don't you imagine that Tara is rational enough to realize that for herself?" his father argued.

Danny slumped down in his seat, crossing his arms mutinously. "How should I know? I don't know how her mind works."

"Have you ever bothered to ask her? Do you even have an inkling of who she is?"

"My God, Dad, are you listening to me?" Danny cried with an incredulous scowl, "I have _tried_! Over and over! _She's_ the one who can't be bothered! _She's_ the one who doesn't want to know _me_! I'm not being melodramatic here! She genuinely hates me! If I were dead, I think that would suit her just fine!"

He wasn't prepared for the backhanded smack from his father but once the blow landed, Danny scrambled upright and stared up at Vikram with a betrayed expression. Vikram, however, was too enraged to register Danny's hurt and disappointment. "Never say anything like that about your aunt again," he uttered stonily, "You have no idea what she has sacrificed to protect me...to protect us both! She has centered her entire life on the interests of our family!"

"So you'll look the other way while she abusing your son out of _gratitude_?" Danny charged bitterly.

Vikram waved his hand dismissively. "Stop being theatrical. Tara isn't abusing you. You haven't known abuse until you've had Aravinda Desai for a father!"

"From what I've heard, Aunt Tara is just as bad as he was!"

"Shut your mouth this instant!" Vikram bit out so sharply that Danny automatically braced himself for another blow, "You have no idea what you're talking about. Tara is _nothing_ like that sick, sadistic old man! You have no idea what he put her through...and yet she overcame it all, rose above it all. You could learn something from her, Danny, instead of wallowing in self-pity."

"So, as per usual, she's the saint and I'm the sinner. Why do I even bother?"

"Don't put words in my mouth. I'm merely saying that you should be careful about throwing around words like 'abusive,' especially when it pertains to Tara."

"I guess being told you're worthless and stupid and unlovable every day of your life doesn't seem abusive to you then, huh?"

"It's harsh," Vikram acknowledged without flinching, "But perhaps you need a bit of harshness. Perhaps Tara is right and I've coddled you too much. I've given you too much and now you don't know how to take responsibility for yourself."

Danny blinked back the hot tears that welled in his eyes. "So you're taking _her_ side?"

"There isn't a side to take," Vikram replied with a heavy sigh, "For the moment, Tara is the head of Desai Corp and she has done amazing things for this company...things that will benefit us both. Do you really want to alienate her?"

"I don't care."

"And that is exactly your problem!" his father flared, "You can't see the world beyond your own tiny piece of it! You think all of this revolves around you, Daniel, and it doesn't! There are bigger things at stake here than just your ego!"

The longer their argument continued, the more withdrawn Danny became. He knew there was little point in arguing with Vikram further because he would never compel his father to see his side. He shifted to his feet, wordlessly signaling with the action that his conversation with Vikram was done. "You're right, Father," he agreed stiffly, "Perhaps I am failing to see the bigger picture here. Obviously, if you can't ask Tara to leave then I should be the one to go instead."

Vikram softened at that, his countenance losing some of its reserve. "My God, don't be a child! Be reasonable. Where would you go?"

"I can get an apartment in the city or I can stay on campus. There's enough for me to live on with the monthly stipend I receive from my trust fund."

"That's absurd. There's no need for you to waste your money when you already have place to live. The house is big enough that you can avoid Tara if you have the need."

"That's not the point! I won't stay in that house with her any longer. I refuse. If she won't go then I will."

"So you're handing out an ultimatum?"

"I'm telling you how it's going to be," Danny countered rather emotionlessly.

"I won't consent to your leasing an apartment, Daniel."

"I don't need your consent. I'm well past my eighteenth birthday. It's _my_ money!"

"And you still must have _my_ approval!"

"I'm over eighteen," Danny reiterated, "You can't stop me from leaving."

"Are you proposing that I merely stand by and watch while you blow your inheritance on alcohol, drugs and God knows what else? You need supervision! You could have died last night!"

"What I do with my money is none of your business!"

"You are my son. Everything you do is my business."

"Oh, _now_ you care!"

"You're being childish! I don't want to be at odds with you, Danny. Don't make me the bad guy!"

"You don't have to be the bad guy. Just let me go."

"That's not possible."

"I'm not giving you a choice."

Vikram's jaw tightened with resolve. "Surely you realize that it wouldn't be a difficult thing for me to have you declared incompetent," he warned softly, "Please, don't make me go to that extreme, son."

Upon recognizing that his father was not making an idle threat, Danny's bravado crumbled. "Why are you doing this to me?" he cried helplessly, "You won't ask her to leave but then you won't let me leave either! Is it because of the drugs? Are you trying to torture me?"

"I'm trying to keep my family intact. I want to help you, Danny."

Danny pushed all ten of his fingers through his hair, pacing the length of his father's office in small, prowling circles. "Don't you get it?" he mumbled in anguish, "If you make me stay in that house, I'm going to go crazy, Dad. I can't do it anymore! Please... _please_ , don't make me stay there!"

"Why is it so wrong that I want to keep my son _and_ my sister close to me? If it means so much to you, I will talk to Tara about toning down her attitude."

His words caused Danny to come to a gradual halt. He lifted dark eyes full of hurt and disappointment to his father. "You're no better than she is," he uttered in a thickened tone, "You don't care about my feelings at all. You just want to control me."

"That's not true."

"Do what you have to do," Danny invited, "You want to have me declared incompetent and freeze my assets? Go right ahead. Do whatever you want but I'm leaving that house regardless of what you do. I'll go to Mom's family if I have to."

"Don't be absurd. The Kincaids won't have you," Vikram warned him, "They would never take you in."

"So you say."

"That family hasn't made a single overture towards knowing you in nearly nineteen years, Daniel," his father reminded him, "Why do you imagine anything has changed?"

"I'll take my chances," Danny replied before raking Vikram with a scathing once over, " _Anything_ is better than this!"

He rushed from the office then, ignoring his father's strident calls for him to stop. His determination and bluster lasted as long as it took him to reach the elevators. Only then did Danny deflate with defeat. His father was right, of course. The Kincaids weren't an option at all. In nineteen years, he hadn't received so much as a phone call or even a birthday card from that family. As far as they were concerned, he didn't exist. Danny wasn't under the delusion that they would be eager to welcome their drunken screw-up of an unwanted grandson anymore than his own family wanted him.

Truthfully, he didn't have many options before him at all. The realization made him want to dive headfirst into a bottle and never crawl out. Only one thing prevented him from doing so...Tara. If he were to go out and get drunk or high like he wanted, he would be proving her right. He would be justifying her assertion that he needed to be handled or tucked away so as to not sully the Desai name further. He would further validate to his father that he needed to be handled. Danny was already feeling very much like a caged animal. He didn't want to make his confines even smaller by indulging in a foolish action.

Still, he knew he couldn't stay in that house any longer. He needed to know if his father truly had any authority to block his efforts to procure an apartment for himself. His understanding had always been that the portion of his inheritance that he'd received was his to spend as he chose. However, if he was honest with himself, Danny didn't truly have the full scope of what that entailed.

He had no idea how large his inheritance was or even everything it included. Before that day other than taking a cursory interest in the accounts report for Desai Corp, Danny had never even considered asking about his holdings. Whenever he received his generous monthly stipend from his father, he never questioned the amount or where it had come from because Vikram had always given the money to him to spend as he saw fit. He had always trusted that his father had his best interest at her. Now, Danny wasn't quite so sure. Now, _he_ was full of questions. And he knew only one person who could answer them for him...

Danny did an abrupt, about-face with the intention of making a beeline straight for Kyle Masterson's office and immediately collided with Jo the second he did. He caught her by the shoulders before she could go tumbling to the floor. "Sorry about that," he mumbled in sheepish apology, "I wasn't looking where I was going."

Jo jerked from his hold and smoothed out the wrinkles from her clothes with anxious hands, unnerved by how jittery his proximity made her. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"I was actually on my way to see your father."

She shook her head when he started to sidle around her. "Not a good time. Your dad just called him in for a meeting. I suspect they'll be a while. That's why I'm taking off."

"Great," Danny mumbled under his breath, "I guess my father and I had the same idea and he beat me to the punch."

"What idea was that?"

"It's not important. What are you doing here anyway?"

"Not that it's any of your business but I came to have lunch with my dad."

"Oh, that's right. I forgot you guys have a standing date for that. I haven't seen you in a while so I figured you weren't doing it anymore."

"No, I still come here every afternoon. I'm just extra careful to avoid running into you when I do." An awkward beat of silence passed between them before Jo acknowledged in a cool tone, "You're standing upright. I guess that means you've recovered from last night's festivities. I'm glad."

Danny's lips quirked in an embittered smile. "Sure. Like you actually give a damn, Jo. You couldn't wait to get out of there."

"Do you blame me?" she snapped in return. She pinched her lips in a tight line in an attempt to collect herself. A few seconds passed before she felt calm enough to speak. "Just because I'm mad at you that doesn't mean I stopped caring about you, Danny," she told him, "I didn't spend an hour at your bedside last night because I had nothing better to do."

He snorted at that, swiveling around to punch the elevator button. "This is how _you_ wanted it. You're the one who eighty-sixed our friendship, Jo. Remember?"

"And you know why that is," she reminded him quietly.

"Yeah, because big, bad Danny took poor, innocent Jo's precious virginity. Never mind the fact that you _offered_ it to me. Never mind that you wanted it as much as I did. I'm a scumbag because I didn't want to draw Danny plus Jo in the sand with hearts after it was over!"

"Screw you, Danny!" she bit out, "It's not just about that. You're ruining your life! I didn't necessarily want a ring-side seat to watch it happen."

He pressed the elevator button with renewed vigor, silently cursing its dawdling arrival. "I thought you, of all people, would understand," he hissed bitterly, "You know how it is for me at home."

"I know you need to find a better way of coping."

Danny whirled on her with an incensed expression, bristling under her self-righteous air. "You got any suggestions? Go ahead, Jo. I'm all ears!"

"For starters, you might want to get into some kind of treatment facility. Maybe it would help if you stopped using drugs and alcohol as a crutch!"

He scoffed at the suggestion. "That's not happening. I don't need treatment. There's nothing wrong with me. I'm not an addict. I like to have a good time. That's not a crime."

"Yeah...that's what most addicts say," Jo countered.

"Stop calling me that!"

"What? Did I get under your skin just now? You don't like hearing the truth?"

Danny surveyed her with a glittering glare, his fists clenched at his sides. After the confrontation with his father, he was spoiling for a fight and Jo was good enough to provide him with an excuse to release some of his pent up rage. The elevator arrived and left all without their notice because they were too busy squaring off with one another.

"You know, I don't think it's so much 'the truth' that aggravates me so much as your need to make justifications to yourself," he told her.

"Justifications for what?" Jo snorted.

"For the reason why I don't love you. You tell yourself that it's because of the drugs. Or because of my family. It's _everything_ except the fact that I'm not in love with you and I never will be."

She released a sharp gasp, her breath hitching painfully in her chest with his callous words. "You're a real asshole, do you know that, Danny? I don't know what I ever saw in you."

"Now who doesn't like hearing the truth? I've spent the last six months begging for your forgiveness and I'm not doing it anymore, Jo. I didn't trick you. I didn't use you. I took what you freely offered. So, if you want to blame someone for what happened between us, blame yourself!" She told him in three succinct words what he could do to himself. Danny reacted with mock affront. "Jo Marie Masterson, such language! What would your father say?"

"Everything's a big joke to you, isn't it? You're throwing away everything that was good between us and you don't even care!"

"No, _you_ don't care! That's why you walked away, remember?"

"Oh, whatever! You whine and whine about not having anyone who's there for you but, the truth is when you actually have someone who's willing to love you and stand by you, _you_ push them away, Danny! I could have made you happy but you didn't want it."

"I didn't push you away, Jo! You washed your hands of me as soon as I told you that I couldn't love you like you wanted. I didn't want to give you false hope. I was honest with you but it didn't matter. You were done after that. You didn't get what you wanted from me, so you bailed. Your 'love,' like your 'friendship' was full of conditions."

"If that's what you really think, then I guess you never really knew me at all."

He didn't even flinch at the tacit challenge but met her eyes squarely when he replied, "I guess I didn't."

Jo lifted her chin to a haughty angle at the assertion. "Then it's pretty clear that we have nothing left to say to each other. I think I'll take the stairs. I don't want to be near you any longer than I have to be. Goodbye, Danny."

"Good! I'm glad you're walking away!" Danny spat at her retreating back, "But I'd appreciate it if you could stay away from Lacey in the meantime. Let her make up her own mind about me."

At the mention of Lacey Porter, Jo slowly turned back to face Danny with a narrowed glare. She concealed her sudden and seething rage behind a mask of indifference. "Excuse me? Lacey?"

"Yeah...the girl who volunteers at the hospital with you," he clarified, "She already told me that you've been filling her head with stories about me. I'd like you to stop it."

"Why?" Jo sneered, "Are you afraid I'll mess up your game? I've got news for you. You do a great job of that all on your own, Danny!"

"Then if it's going to get screwed up, let _me_ be the one to do it. Don't color her opinion of me with your hatred. It's not fair, Jo."

"Wow, you almost sound desperate! Are you _that_ eager to get into her pants?" she scoffed, "You'll be fine. I'm sure there are plenty of other girls willing to play mattress tag with you."

"Not everything is about that, Jo! She's important to me. I'm asking you not to mess up what I'd like to build with her...what I'm _trying_ to build with her."

"What are you talking about? You don't even know her!"

"But I want to know her...and I won't have the chance to do that if you keep whispering in her ear. Just...just stay away from her. _Please_. Can you do that one thing for me, Jo?"

She shrugged and turned her back on him with a thoughtful expression, replying in a careless tone as she walked away, "Maybe I can...and maybe I can't. I guess we'll see how it goes."


	8. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

"I swear to God I'm not following you."

When Lacey Porter glanced up at his greeting with a startled smile, Danny prepared himself to see disappointment and dread lurking in the depths of her expressive brown eyes. It was a disappointing expectation considering how elated he had been when he walked into his first class of the day and found her sitting in the center row at the very front of the room. He was stunned, however, when he saw delight and relief reflected on her beautiful features instead. That surprising development left him a little speechless and that was _before_ Lacey exclaimed with heartfelt sincerity, "Danny! I'm so glad to see you again! I was worried."

He blinked at her incredulously, cast a curious glance over his shoulder before looking back to her again. Danny pointed at himself. "You're talking about me? You're glad to see me? You were worried about _me_?"

"Well, you were in the hospital the last time I saw you," Lacey reminded him wryly.

"Thanks in part to my own stupidity," he muttered in return, "Please don't remind me."

"You were pretty bad off that night. I've been thinking about you ever since it happened. I'm glad you're okay."

"I'm a little surprised that you even care. I thought you wouldn't give me a second thought based on our conversation in the registrar's office. You seemed pretty done."

"I was _trying_ to be," she murmured, "But, as it turns out, you're a hard guy to shake, Danny Desai."

He flashed her a toothy smile. "Can't resist my charms, huh?"

"Oh, get over yourself, Desai," Lacey grunted, "I guess there's something about you that intrigues me."

Danny cocked his head and regarded her with a quizzical look. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"I'm still trying to decide."

"I suppose being a screw-up makes me memorable."

Rather than addressing that comment directly because she discerned that his self-effacing joke had a ring of sad truth to it, Lacey set aside her textbook on her desk and said, "I can't believe you're taking this same class. What are the chances, huh?"

"Pretty good actually. It's not like I had a choice in the matter," he laughed, "World Civ is a prerequisite for every major imaginable but...yeah, I am excited about the class if that's what you're asking. History is my thing but you know that already. We have that in common." They exchanged quick, shy smiles before Danny added, "I never figured we'd sign up for the same time though. 10 a.m. is a little early for me but I get the impression it's exactly the opposite for you."

Lacey ducked her head with a dimpled grin. "You'd be right about that. I don't like to procrastinate. This is my _third_ and _last_ class of the day."

Danny digested revelation that with a low whistle of admiration. "Whoa. Beautiful, organized _and_ efficient. You really _are_ perfect, aren't you?" Lacey deliberately refrained from reacting to the last part of his statement which caused him to avert his eyes as he added, "And here I am just getting started. This is my first class today."

She smirked at him with a superior air. "Yeah well, I'm not surprised to hear that. I get the impression from _you_ that you're a slack ass."

He bounced a self-conscious look her way, surprised to find her grinning at him teasingly. "But you don't seem to have a problem with that...me being a 'slack ass, I mean.'"

She lifted her shoulders in a light shrug. "Maybe I find it a little endearing." Before he could tease her about that comment, however, Lacey abruptly sobered and surveyed him with a solemn expression. "I've actually been wanting to talk to you for a while now. You mentioned what I said to you before and..."

"You mean about not wanting to see me again?"

"Right..." she hedged uncomfortably, "Maybe I was a little harsh with you when I said that."

Recoiling inwardly over what he imagined was pity, Danny stooped down low so that they were approximately at eye level when he said, "Listen, if this is about what happened to me the other night, you don't have to feel guilty or...or obligated. I'm not some wounded animal you need to nurse back to health. You don't owe me anything, Lacey."

"You think I'm saying this because I feel sorry for you?" she surmised with a deep sigh.

"Aren't you?"

"No! Not at all."

Despite her vehement protest, Lacey supposed she couldn't blame him for being confused. She _was_ , albeit unintentionally, sending him mixed messages. He had no way of knowing that she had been struggling to keep her distance from him from the moment he'd approached her in the registrar's office and had pretty much lost the battle completely that night when he was wheeled into the hospital. She cringed inwardly when she considered how close he had come to death that night and what a waste it would have been if he _had_ died. Lacey decided right then that she didn't want to expend anymore energy pretending he didn't have any effect on her.

"You were right when you said that there was something between us," she confessed in a suffocated tone, "It was there the night we slept together and it's still there now. I don't know what it is but...I can't seem to get away from it no matter how hard I try."

"I thought you said I was just a rebound fling."

"Would you stop throwing my words back in my face?" she huffed in exasperation, "I'm trying to be honest with you!"

"I think you were being honest the other day," he replied, "Before what happened the other night you seemed pretty adamant about keeping your distance from me and now you're acting like everything you said doesn't mean anything. Now I might be way off base here but, it feels a lot like pity to me. And, if that's the case, you can keep it. I don't need you feeling sorry for me, Lacey."

"I don't feel sorry for you," she maintained, "It makes me sad that you're sad and I want to change that for you."

"Why?"

"I don't know!" she cried softly, "But it matters to me. _You_ matter. And...it's not like I've changed my mind about dating you because I haven't. _But_...it seems silly that we can't be friends or, at least, _friendly_ to each other," she continued in a hushed tone, "After all, we go to the same school, we come into contact with the same people and now we share a class together. It's like the Universe is trying to tell me something."

"Yeah, that Green Grove is ridiculously small," Danny wisecracked.

"Or, that maybe I was _meant_ to meet you," Lacey countered meaningfully, "Maybe this is how it's supposed to be."

"You mean like Fate?"

He sounded so dubious over the possibility that Lacey couldn't help but lift her shoulders in a self-conscious shrug. "I know it sounds stupid but from the second I laid eyes on you I felt like you were going to be this important part of my life and ever since that night we met, you and I keep crossing paths. That can't be a coincidence."

"Agreed. I don't know if I'd call it Fate either."

"But it's _something_ , right?" Lacey stressed softly.

"Yeah, it's something," he agreed with equal softness.

"Besides that, I don't know why I'm being so arbitrary about you keeping your distance or me keeping mine. You've already seen me naked at this point. The mystery is gone."

Danny choked out a small laugh. "So because I've seen you naked, you think we should be friends?"

Lacey thumped his shoulder lightly with a grunt of exasperation. "No, smart ass! I'm saying that I don't want to pretend you don't exist. I can't do that anymore. I've tried and it's not working and it seems stupid to ignore what's between us, to ignore _you_ , especially after everything that's happened already. I want to figure out what all this means so I guess what I'm saying is...I'd like to get to know you better, Danny."

He rocked by on his haunches, visibly stunned and relieved by her admission. Finally, the corners of his mouth ghosted with a grateful smile. "And I'd like to get to know _you_ too," he confessed softly, "If you think that what we shared the night we met was enough for me, Lacey Porter, you're wrong. And I'm not even talking about the sex either. I don't think I've ever met anyone in my life who has managed to understand me so well while knowing so little about me. You just get me without me having to say a word to you. I don't know how you do that. I feel like I haven't even scratched the surface with you yet."

She peered at him with a puzzled frown. "But why do you care whether I get you or not?"

"Why do you care?" he countered.

Lacey rolled her eyes in mock despair. "Oh God, you're not one of _those_ people, are you?"

Danny favored her with a quizzical grin. "What people are those?"

"People who answer a question with a question."

"Why? Does it make you crazy?"

She made a face at him. "Yes, it really does."

His eyes sparkled with merriment. "Then I might be one of those people...if for no other reason than to annoy you."

Lacey fixed him with a narrowed glare that was half playful, half exasperated. "And why exactly would you want to annoy me?"

He leaned in closer and whispered in a velvet tone, "Because then I get to see your dimples and I really like your dimples."

She could feel it happening again, that strong and irresistible desire to fall into him. It was the same desire that had compelled her to go back home with him the first night they met, the same desire that compelled her to sleep with him. She gravitated towards him naturally. She didn't even have to _think_ about it. The ease with which he battered down all of her emotional defenses was a little frightening and made her want to resist him, if for no other reason than her stubborn pride.

Determined to resist his charms, Lacey straightened her back and surveyed him with a stern look. "Okay, we need to set some ground rules first," she told him firmly, "When I said friendship, I meant it. That's _all_ I'm offering to you, Danny. There will be no dating, flirting or romantic undertones of any kind."

"Understood. No dating, flirting or romance," he parroted earnestly.

"No sexual innuendo either and that includes referencing the night we had together. If we're going to be friends then we have to start over from this moment."

"But the whole reason we're even talking about being friends is because of what happened between us that night...what's still happening between us _now_ ," he argued.

"These are my rules. You don't have to agree to them. I'm not forcing you to do anything you don't want to do."

"Is this because of that guy...because of your ex? You're still hung up on him?"

"This is about _me_ ," Lacey emphasized in a low, tone, "I want to know what this is between us but I'm not trying to get my heart trampled on in the process."

"I don't wanna trample your heart, Lacey."

"Tell that to your good friend Jo. You really did a number on her, you know?"

Danny deflated a little with the mention of Jo. He closed his eyes with a low groan. "I'd really like to give tell you my side of the story if you'd let me. I'm not the asshole she makes me out to be."

"Please don't go there. I don't want to be in the middle of...of whatever it is you have or _had_ going with her. I already know more than I want to. Besides, it's none of my business. You and I are starting over, remember?"

"Lacey..."

"Do you agree or not?" she pressed.

He looked for a moment like he wanted to press the matter further and Lacey mentally prepared her rebuttals. So, she was thoroughly surprised when he sighed, "Okay. No innuendo and no mention of past sex. Agreed."

"Also no inappropriate touching or sexual advances either. I'm very serious about this, Danny."

The picture of solemnity and seriousness, Danny raised his right hand while placing his left hand across the center of his chest. "I vow to keep my hands to myself. May I be struck with lightning and branded with fiery hot iron upon violating this commandment. Lacey has spoken."

Lacey compressed her lips tightly to keep from smiling at him. "You're an idiot."

He grinned at her. "So now that you've established all of the things I _can't_ do, why don't you tell me about the things I _can_ do."

"You _can_ talk to me when you need someone," Lacey invited him earnestly, "I'd rather you do that than what you did the other night." As his gaze skittered away and his smile faded slightly, she added, "You _can_ count me as a friend, Danny. I'll be here for you. I promise."

He cleared his throat several times before he spoke again. "That's a pretty heavy promise to make to someone you barely know," he muttered self-deprecatingly, "You're really putting yourself out there, don't you think?"

"I guess I am," she mumbled.

He surveyed her from beneath his long, dark lashes. "Any particular reason why?"

"Like I told you in the ER the other night, there's something about you that tells me you're worth the risk." She wanted to say more to him, especially because he looked so skeptical at the assertion but, from the corner of her eye, she noted the instructor's harried arrival. As he began quickly gathering together his materials, Lacey made the rueful realization that class would be starting soon. She sighed and glanced back at Danny. "Maybe we can talk more about it after class," she offered.

Danny straightened as their instructor addressed the class. "I'd like that. Unfortunately, I have English Lit right after this so I can't," he rushed out in a hushed whisper, "But maybe if you gave me your number afterwards, I could call you."

He left the invitation hanging, waiting for Lacey's response with bated breath. She didn't really have time to ponder the wisdom of giving him her phone number as she was acutely aware of the instructor waiting impatiently for them to conclude their conversation. "Okay. I'll pass it to you after class," she told him while anxiously gesturing for him to take a seat. Danny grinned his satisfaction over that and then proceeded to take the desk directly behind her. Only then did Lacey begin to contemplate the full enormity of what she was getting herself involved in.

She hadn't awakened that morning with any specific decision in mind to allow Danny Desai back into her world. However, she couldn't deny that since that night he had been wheeled into the ER near dead, he had been on her mind constantly. At first, she had simply attributed her preoccupation with the typical anxiety anyone would feel if someone they knew had nearly died. But, after a couple of days passed without her seeing or speaking to Danny again, Lacey began to recognize that her feelings entailed much more than that. She was genuinely worried about him.

Clara, of course, thought she was insane to even want to go near him again, especially after his near overdose. She firmly believed that Lacey should forget that she had ever met Danny Desai and Lacey couldn't fully blame her. So far, there was nothing about him that screamed good association. He was trouble walking and Lacey knew it. Worse yet, her sister knew it and she hadn't hesitated to remind Lacey of that fact again and again. Lacey cringed when she recalled the conversation she'd had with Clara on the subject last night.

 _"I just don't get it, Lacey," Clara had griped as she lounged across the edge of Lacey's bed, "Shouldn't the fact he's a drug addict make you want him less?"_

 _"He's not a drug addict! And I don't want him!"_

 _"Like hell you don't! You're already defending him! They brought him to the hospital because he od'd and you even said that the nurses told you it wasn't his first time. Sounds a like an addict to me, not to mention a big old hot mess!"_

 _"It's more than that, Clara. You didn't talk to him that night. The way he was...the things he said... He's in so much pain."_

 _"So what? Why does that concern you? Do you think you're going to fix him or something? Lacey, let me be the first to tell you that healing coochie is just a myth. The sex might be incredible but it never works out the way you think it will."_

 _Lacey rolled her eyes in disgust. "You are so crass, Clara! I'm not talking about sleeping with him again!"_

 _Clara shifted onto her side to face Lacey fully. "Then what are you talking about?"_

 _"He needs a friend."_

 _"And that has to be you?"_

 _"No one else seems to be taking up the job."_

 _"That should tell you something. Maybe the guy really is bad news like everyone has been telling you. Stay away from him, Lacey."_

 _"I don't know if I can."_

 _"Why not?"_

 _"If I could explain it to you then I would but, I don't even understand it. I just know that he's in pain and he needs someone."_

 _"Why is it so important to you? Can you tell me that much?"_

 _"I don't know, Clara. It just is."_

Lacey well understood Clara's overwhelming concern. If their roles were reversed she would be throwing a holy fit herself as well. Lacey knew she was getting herself involved in a precarious situation. It was very clear that Danny had substance abuse issues and struggled with deep, psychological issues. Nearly everyone she had spoken to regarding him had warned her to give him the wide berth. The general consensus seemed to be that Danny Desai was an emotional black hole and getting involved with him was done at one's peril.

Anyone with an ounce of sense who had been presented with such a scenario would have run in the other direction. Under different circumstances, that certainly would have been Lacey herself. If anything, Danny's obvious problems should have lessened her fascination with him but, instead, the small glimpse she had been given into his private pain had only strengthened her desire to know him. What was unclear to her was whether or not she would truly be able to remains friends with him alone. That was certainly her plan. She had made up her mind about it completely. Her heart, unfortunately, was another matter.

Despite all the failsafe interventions Lacey had put in place, she couldn't help but wonder if she had bitten off more than she could chew. Unfortunately, it was too late to turn back now. She had already offered her friendship to him and it was too late to take it back. Besides that, she was too invested anyway, too determined to understand why she felt the strange kinship she did with him. Lacey was going to see it through to the bitter end.

In the meantime, however, she tried not to panic about her decision too much. There would be plenty of time to freak out about it after class. Presently though, she forced herself to pay attention to her history instructor as he reviewed his expectations and the course syllabus. Over the course of the next fifteen weeks they were going to examine several ancient civilizations, their cultures and way of life. Lacey was excited to learn about it all but with the particular mention of ancient Egypt and, in particular, the mysteries surrounding the reign of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, she suddenly became lightheaded.

Lacey gripped the edge of her desk as her surroundings seemed to shrink around her. She felt flushed and hot. Her breaths came in shallow, gulping pants. She could still hear her professor's voice as he droned on and on about the grading system and opportunities for extra credit but it seemed to Lacey as if his voice was coming from far away. Her blood pounded in her ears. It was almost like being trapped in a wind tunnel.

Without warning, her world seemed to tilt off of its axis and the paneled walls surrounding her suddenly gave way and were replaced with dusty, barren streets and rudimentary huts made of earthen brick. The ceiling fell away to reveal a blazing, midday sun, filling the air around her with oppressive, baking warmth. And then, Lacey was no longer in her desk listening to her instructor on the periphery of her consciousness but on her feet, dashing desperately through those dirt covered streets, her heart pounding in her chest as she ran as if her life depended on it. Somehow, she knew that it did.

Her legs felt like rubber and it seemed her knees might give out at any given moment yet Lacey never stopped running. There was too much at stake, something greater than just their lives they were seeking to preserve. That was her motivation to keep her pace even as she could feel exhaustion seeping into her bones and her lungs burning like fire in the arid, desert heat.

The strong, slender hand that clasped her own tugged at her insistently, sometimes dragging her along, sometimes losing its grip on her fingers as they made rapid twists and turns through the dust covered streets. Behind her, she could hear the murderous shouting of the sounds and the low, reverberating cacophony of the signal horns that sounded throughout the city streets. Lacey knew that if they were caught they would be executed and in the most painful fashion imaginable but _her_ fate in particular would be much worse.

She was, after all, a woman and a traitor to her own people...at least that was most certainly how she would be perceived. If she was captured, she would no doubt be tortured, raped and eventually executed most gruesomely. But that was _not_ going to happen. She had not come there to die. She would not die. Most importantly, she would not let _him_ die.

As they made yet another abrupt turn in their chaotic search for escape, he found her hand again. She gripped his fingers tightly, struggling to keep up with his long strides despite the narrow confines of her linen tunic. Jagged pebbles and rocky shards dug into the pads of her feet as they skidded and pounded their way through the streets in an effort to escape their pursuers but Lacey barely registered the pain. She concentrated instead on keeping her hand linked with his, determined not to be separated from him again. As long as they remained together she knew they could accomplish anything.

After what seemed like an eternity of running, Lacey was almost certain that they would make it, that they would gain the freedom needed for their survival. But then they unexpectedly came upon a craggy, precipice just on the edge of the city wall, trapping them between the enemy army and a sheer ten foot drop outside of the city gate. A jump from that height could easily snap a limb but not jumping surely would result in losing their lives. Lacey swallowed past the acrid lump in her throat and tightened her fingers around his, lifting her eyes to meet his directly for the first time since their escape ensued. She was stunned to find the perspiring and dirt-streaked face of Danny Desai staring back at her. She had no time to absorb her shock over seeing him because she knew that only moments existed before the pursuing soldiers would overtake them.

He regarded her with a mournful look and securing his grasp on her hand. "We've no alternative but to jump, my love," he rushed out, "Are you ready?"

She jerked a nod. "I'm ready."

After exchanging a confirming nod with their fellow escapee, he then tightened his fingers around Lacey's and, without further hesitation, the three of them jumped from the edge together. As they plummeted down into what seemed to be a deep, dark unknown abyss, the classroom abruptly restored itself around Lacey, reassembling as if the last few minutes had not happened at all. Unfortunately, Lacey had very little time to bask in her relief because her vision suddenly began to swirl with fat tendrils of black color. Her last lucid thought before she soundlessly slid from her desk in a dead faint was of one word...a name that echoed in her ears again and again... _Tutankhamun_.


	9. Chapter Eight

**A/N: So I know updates are slower than usual. The reason for that is because when I was going through my little health crisis, I didn't write ahead like I usually do. I'm basically going chapter by chapter right now and, for the foreseeable future, I'll be sticking with that. That doesn't mean you'll have to wait a long time for updates though. I'll still update once or twice a week, it just won't be like before...at least not until I get a chance to write ahead.  
**

 **Thank you guys so much for your patience.**

* * *

 **Chapter Eight**

Lacey opened her eyes and the first face to fill her line of vision was Danny Desai's. Somehow that fact lessened her panic at discovering she was lying on the floor with practically her entire World Civilization class surrounding her. Furthermore, she had very little time to dwell on the attention she was receiving because Danny was gently slipped his arm beneath her shoulders and scooping her into an upright position. She gripped his forearm reflexively just in case she was assaulted by a wave of dizziness. Lacey waited for the telltale symptoms to overwhelm her and, when they didn't, she relaxed a bit.

"Are you okay?" Danny fretted with a worried frown, "You scared the sh..." He caught himself mid-phrase and darted an apprehensive glance at their professor before amending meaningfully, "You scared the _crap_ out of me."

She squinted at him in confusion, gingerly palming the tender spot where she had knocked her head on the way down. "What going on?" Lacey wondered blearily. Gradually, she assimilated that she was no longer near her desk but situated near the entrance of the classroom instead. "How did I get here?"

"We had to carry you," Danny told her, "You weren't responding to anything."

Even with the explanation Lacey still had difficulty piecing the events together. She swung another glance around at the anxious faces that surrounded her and frowned. "I don't get it. What happened?"

Relieved that she was speaking in full sentences and didn't seem to be bearing any after effects from her fainting spell, Danny favored her with a wry smile. "I was hoping you could tell me. One minute you were in your seat and the next you were sprawled out across the floor." When he caught sight of her wince of pain as she carefully inspected the goose egg that was beginning to form on her forehead, Danny's relief flared into panic once more. "Oh God...did you hit your head?" She barely had time to answer that question before he was firing out several more. "Are you dizzy? Do you feel like you're going to vomit? Here...let me see."

Lacey batted away his seeking hands. "Will you stop freaking out?" she growled at him irritably, "I'm fine, Danny."

Just then, she felt someone nudge the bottom of her foot. She glanced up to find her instructor surveying her with a faint smile. "You should give your boyfriend a break, Ms. Porter," he advised her lightly, "You gave him quite a scare."

She and Danny exchanged an uneasy look before Lacey stumbled to clarify. "He's not..." She trailed off mid-sentence as she realized clarification would likely only provoke more questions, like why they had been delaying the start time for his class with their goo-goo eyes at each other if they _weren't_ dating. Finally, she said, "He's not being very reasonable right now. I fainted. It's not like I'm bleeding out on the floor."

While Danny tried to absorb the stunning realization that she'd allowed their instructor and classmates to think they were dating, Lacey took advantage of his speechlessness to try and shuffle to her feet. She wasn't quick enough, however. Her efforts were immediately thwarted by a concerned and insistent Danny. "You shouldn't try to stand right now," he advised her, "You might have a concussion, Lacey. You need to see a doctor."

"No. I don't have a concussion and I don't need to see a doctor."

"He's right. You should go," her classmates and professor promptly chorused in agreement.

Before anyone could volunteer to escort her to the nearest emergency room, Lacey reiterated more firmly, "I do not need a doctor. I promise I'm fine. I got a little lightheaded and I fell out of my chair. That's all. I'm more embarrassed than anything else right now."

Her instructor surveyed her with a torn expression. "Are you sure?" he pressed, "I'm not going to doc you any points for missing today. If you need to go, it's okay, Ms. Porter."

"Really. I'm good."

He reached over to give her shoulder a reassuring pat. "Good. I'll leave you in Mr. Desai's capable hands then. In the meantime, I'm going to get class started. But if anything changes for you, please let me know."

"I will."

After inviting her to take whatever time she needed to resituate herself, the professor took his place back at the front of the classroom and resumed his lecture. Lacey was in the middle of stewing in her mortification and simultaneously devising the most inconspicuous way she could slip back into her seat when she caught sight of Danny's sullen pout of displeasure in her peripheral vision. She swiveled around to regard him with a blank stare. "What? Why are you glaring at me like that?"

"You just fainted for no reason and now you're refusing to see a doctor," he pointed out inanely, "Why do you think?"

"Are you annoyed with me right now?" she wondered, half amused, half incredulous.

"Yeah. Actually I am a little bit."

Lacey's own mild irritation with him gave way to laughing chagrin. She favored him with a small smile. "You almost sound like you care, Desai," she teased him, careful to keep her tone low so as not to disturb the class.

His expression remained somber and earnest when he said, "That's because I do. Besides doesn't that kind of come with the territory of being your boyfriend?" He purposely stretched out the last two words and bobbed his brows with smirking arrogance. Lacey rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't be like that," he teased her, "I'm not the one who let him think we were dating."

"I just didn't think this was the right setting to try and accurately explain what's between us."

"What's to explain?" Danny challenged softly, "We're friends." His eyes dropped briefly to her mouth before he met her discomfited gaze once more. "Unless maybe you're wanting to be _more_ than that."

"Would you get over yourself, Desai?" Lacey sighed in exasperation, "Do you always pounce on girls when they're feeling vulnerable?"

Danny instantly began stumbling over himself in apology. "Lacey, I swear, that's not what I'm trying to do," he reassured her sincerely, "If I gave you any impression that I was trying to take advantage of you, I-,"

"-You didn't give me that impression," she interrupted softly, "I was just kidding. I know you wouldn't do something like that."

He stared at her with wide, wounded eyes. "Do you?"

Lacey didn't have to ponder the question at all but merely answered without the slightest hesitation, "Yeah, I do."

Danny slumped forward in relief. "You really _did_ scare the hell out of me," he told her, "I was just about to nudge you when Professor Owens made his announcement about extra credit and then you suddenly face planted. It happened out of nowhere."

"Please tell me it wasn't as dramatic as that," Lacey groaned self-deprecatingly.

"Okay, so you actually sort of slid out of your seat and slumped to the ground," Danny clarified somewhat moodily, "But that didn't make it any less terrifying."

Lacey reached forward to cover his hand with her own and give his fingers a gentle squeeze. "I'm sorry that I scared you," she whispered, "Thank you for taking such good care of me." They traded small, shy smiles that promised to become something more. Unfortunately, Lacey abruptly broke the spell between them when she burst out without warning, "Wait a second! Did you say we have an extra credit assignment? What extra credit assignment? I didn't hear any of that!"

Danny responded to that with a dubious scowl. "Are you seriously asking me about that _now_? I thought we were having a moment here."

"Listen, I'm not taking any chances with my grade point average," Lacey told him, "The higher my GPA, the better chance I have of getting accepted into nursing school. So what is it?"

"Apparently, the MET is having a Tut exhibit and it will be there all month long," Danny explained in petulant acquiesce, "Professor Owens said that if we attend the exhibit and write a five page paper on our experience and how it correlates with what we're learning in class he'll award us 25 bonus points towards our final exam."

Lacey sucked in an excited breath. "I'm doing it," she determined in a giddy whisper, "I don't know how but I'm doing it! Number one, it's _Tut_ and number two, extra credit! Of course, I probably have zero chance of convincing my mom to let me go since it's in New York but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. 25 bonus points on the final is too good to pass up."

"Okay, can we focus a minute here?" Danny interrupted impatiently, "You fainted less than five minutes ago, Lacey. I still think you should see a doctor. Maybe we should address that first."

"It's been addressed. I told you. I'm fine."

"People don't faint for no reason."

"I never said it was for no reason."

"Then what happened?" he insisted, "You're not hypoglycemic or something, are you? Do you need a candy bar? A snack? I can run to the vending machines and get you something real quick."

"Danny, you don't have to do that," she uttered with a soft snort of laughter, "It was just a weird, random thing. I'm not hypoglycemic and I don't need a snack. If I tried to explain to you what actually happened, you'd think I was crazy."

"Try me."

A little leery of divulging the strange visions she had been having about him lately especially when she didn't completely understand them herself, Lacey deftly avoided the subject by darting a meaningful glance towards Professor Owens. "This really isn't the time to discuss it. We're in the middle of class," she reminded him, "We're already missed a quarter of the lecture. I don't want to miss anymore."

"Do you promise to tell me later?" Danny pressed as he assisted her to her feet.

She flashed him a coy smile. "I'll think about it."

They resumed their seats after that and Lacey seemed to have little trouble getting reabsorbed in the lecture. She diligently scribbled down notes, completely engrossed. Danny, however, found it impossible to concentrate. While Lacey had easily shaken off that heart-stopping moment when she toppled from her desk and sprawled to the floor, he could not stop playing it over in his head again and again. It had happened so suddenly and so without warning that for one breathless moment Danny feared she had died. The sheer devastation he had felt right then, the all encompassing agony that had virtually paralyzed him still haunted him presently. Danny felt oddly acquainted with that particular grief and he was absolutely certain he didn't want to live through it again.

Of course that didn't make any sense at all but then very little had since Lacey Porter had stepped into his life. He could not understand it. He barely knew this girl. He had slept with her _once_ and while the sex had been incredible, it hadn't been _earth-shattering_ or anything. Lacey was an extremely pretty girl but Danny had certainly gone out with girls who were prettier and who required far less work.

And yet, despite having only known of her existence for little more than two weeks, Lacey Porter was already deeply embedded under his skin. Thoughts of her virtually consumed him. He obsessed about her when he was awake and when he was asleep she filled his dreams. When he was not in her presence, he sometimes felt like he would go crazy waiting for the next time he would be. He missed her, wanted her, needed to be close to her in a way that he couldn't fathom or possibility explain. Just the _thought_ of losing her had been eviscerating. He couldn't imagine how this woman had come to mean so much to him in such a short period of time.

Danny was coming to understand that his feelings for Lacey went far deeper than base sexual attraction and even further than mere romantic attachment. Somehow, some way, Lacey Porter was an intrinsic part of his very being, an extension of his own soul. He was drawn to her in a way that felt almost _spiritual_ at times. He wanted to protect her, to make her happy, to see her smile because _her_ security, _her_ happiness and _her_ contentment directly affected his own.

That was the reason her unexplained fainting spell had left him so shaken, why he still continued to worry even when it seemed Lacey was suffering no lingering effects from her brief ordeal. His mind veered to a plethora of crazy places and he tormented himself with all of the possible health issues that could be plaguing her...skull fractures, slow cranial bleeds and any other number of heart ailments that could have caused her to faint in the first place. Literally the entirety of Professor Owens' lecture went in one ear and out the other because Danny was too busy worrying over Lacey.

He only realized that he had brooded about the situation for the remaining forty minutes of class when he felt someone jostle his shoulder and saw that the classroom was virtually empty. Danny tipped back his head and found Lacey looking down at him with a puzzled smile. Danny regarded her with an inscrutable expression and did his best not to look as if he had been obsessing over her for nearly an hour.

"What's going on? I thought you had class after this," she reminded him wryly.

"I do."

"Then why are you still sitting here? You've been staring off into space for the last minute."

The words managed to clear the lingering fog from his brain. Danny bit out a soft, frustrated curse and scrambled to gather his books together, quickly scooting from his desk. "I'm going to have to haul ass if I plan to get to Cavanaugh Hall from here and make it to class on time," he muttered. He favored Lacey with a tentative smile as he slung his backpack up onto his shoulder. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I have a hard head," Lacey laughed, "It's going to take more than a little bump to keep me down."

"Yeah, I'm definitely learning that about you, Porter," he teased. His smile faltered a little when he added, "So am I going to see you again sometime or what?"

Rather than answering him directly, Lacey bit her lip and pressed a folded scrap of paper into his palm before taking several, skipping steps backwards in retreat. "I don't know. Why don't you try calling me first and we'll see what happens."

"So you're giving me your number?" he pressed with a widened grin as he pocketed the folded scrap of paper.

"I'm giving you my number," she confirmed with her own widening grin.

"You know this means that I'm going to call you," he warned, "So don't have an attack of regret and try to dodge me later. I can be very persistent when I want to be."

"I'll bet you can."

She disappeared then after flashing him a jaunty, parting smile but Danny wasn't at all disappointed by her abrupt departure. He didn't care how much Lacey claimed that she wanted only friendship from him. That smile she gave him before leaving definitely implied that she wanted much more. He just had to wait for her to find the courage to admit it.

His mood lifting immeasurably at the prospect of talking to her later that day, Danny began his mad dash across campus for his next class. He so intent on making it to his destination, absolutely certain that nothing could blast his smile off of his face, that he didn't even realize he had blown past Jo until she called his name. It was in that moment that Danny realized he'd been wrong. There definitely was something that had the power to collapse his smile and that something's name was Jo Masterson.

Danny stopped in his tracks with a low groan of consternation and pivoted to face her with an impatient grunt. "What do you want now, Jo? I don't want to have another fight. I'm going to be late as it is."

She came to stand before him with a chastened expression and that was enough to disarm Danny a little, even before she said, "I don't want to fight either. I want to talk. Could we do that, Danny?"

"You wanna talk? _Now?_ Why?" he wondered warily, "The other day you were labeling me as a drug addict and a lost cause."

"Listen, the other day I wasn't expecting to run into you and it left me a little flustered. That's not how I imagined things going in my head."

"Me either," he mumbled thickly, "But every time we talk these days we go in circles and I don't want to end up hating you, Jo."

She blinked up at him with blue eyes swimming with vulnerable uncertainty. "You mean you don't already?"

"No," he whispered, "I care about you. You know that."

"Not lately I haven't."

"Jo, I've been begging you to talk to me this whole time!"

"Because you feel guilty!" she cried in a small, suffocated tone, "Because you pity me! Who would want that, Danny? I _do_ have some pride."

Danny felt his defensive barriers weaken a bit more when he realized with some measure of disbelief that Jo was close to tears. "Okay, look, you want to talk about this? We can do that. My last class ends at three," he told her, "I'll meet you at _Johnnycakes_ after that."

Jo forced a trembling smile. "Okay. I'll see you then."

When she started to walk away, he called after her with a pensive frown, "I don't get it. What changed your mind?"

She lifted her shoulders in a sad shrug. "It takes a lot of effort to hate you, Danny. I don't have the energy for it anymore."

As anticipated, Danny was late for his second class. Fortunately, he didn't have one of those professors who insisted on locking the door when students didn't arrive on time. Unfortunately, however, that fact failed to benefit Danny because, for the second time that day, he found himself obsessing over a girl albeit for an entirely different reason.

He couldn't pretend that he was unhappy that Jo was finally beginning to thaw towards him but her unprovoked change of heart still left him confused and flustered. After the night they slept together when Danny had gently but firmly informed her that he wasn't interested in taking things further between them, he had known that he was dealing a crippling blow to their friendship. Jo had loyally stuck with him through years and years of his endless crap but that night he knew he had crossed the line. Danny wasn't surprised later when she had such a difficult time forgiving him. However, he had never expected her to try to cut him from her life totally.

It wasn't that he couldn't understand why she was so hurt. He hadn't been so drunk that night that he couldn't have rejected her kiss and set her straight right then and there. But the truth was, he had _wanted_ to feel that way about her. He had _wanted_ to love her like that. Jo was one of the pitifully few people in his life that he could rely on. He trusted her and respected her. In his inebriated state he had even convinced himself that she might be the one. After all, loving her and being loved by her certainly couldn't be a bad thing, could it...not when she knew him better than his own father?

So he had allowed her to kiss him and he had kissed her back and then they had taken it much further than kissing. But after the sexual haze had cleared and the effects of the alcohol began to diminish, the reality of the situation was very different from how he had imagined. In his head, Jo Marie Masterson was all the things he needed in a lover and friend. In his heart, however, he simply didn't want those things with her. Until he had met Lacey Porter, Danny completely believed he'd never want those things with any woman.

And despite his attempt at letting her down gently, his friendship with Jo had been irrevocably altered after that night. Since then they both had been guilty of saying things that were impossible to take back. It was difficult to believe that they could ever get back to the place where they used to be but, Danny wanted to try. If Jo was willing then so was he.

He held on to that optimism throughout the remainder of his classes and wasted no time making his way to Johnnycakes once they were finished. When he made it to the diner and found Jo sitting in their usual booth, Danny expelled the breath he didn't realize he had been holding. He didn't bother masking his relief either. Upon catching sight of him, Jo set aside her cell phone, offered him a tentative smile and motioned for him to come join her.

"I didn't think you'd show up," she said as he slid into the red, vinyl bench across from her.

"Same goes for you too," he replied.

Jo ducked her head, tucking a stray blond curl behind her ear. "I guess I've been a real bitch to you lately, huh?"

"I gave you good reason to be." He angled his head lower so that he could catch a glimpse of her eyes when he said, "I really _am_ sorry about everything, Jo."

"I know you are. You can stop apologizing, Danny," she sighed, "Maybe I'm the one who needs to say 'sorry' for a change."

"For what?"

"Because you were right. You didn't take advantage of me that night. If anything, I took advantage of you. I knew you were drunk and I kissed you anyway."

"I could have stopped you, Jo."

She pinned him with a sharp look. "So why didn't you?" she wondered softly, "When you kissed me back I thought it was because you wanted me."

"I _did_ want you."

"Then what happened, Danny? How did we get to this place right now?"

"Did you just want to hook-up after that or do the 'friends with benefits' thing for a while?" he asked her bluntly, "Because that's all I could have offered you then, Jo."

"And what about now? Is that all you have to offer me now?"

Danny reared back in his seat, his brows knit together in a confused frown. "What are you asking me right now?"

"I'm trying to figure out what you want. You've been after me to forgive you this whole time. What did you think was going to happen between us after I did?"

"I...I don't know..." he stammered, "I didn't think much past getting you to talk to me again."

"Well, you see that's the problem, because I still have feelings for you, Danny, and I don't know how we're supposed to go back to the way things used to be."

The revelation left him reeling. It wasn't anything he hadn't already suspected but having her admit to it so candidly was a little off-putting. "I thought you hated me."

"Like I told you this afternoon, it's much harder than it sounds."

He slumped forward, feeling a little defeated by the sadness in her tone. "I don't know what you want me to say, Jo," he muttered in a mournful tone, "I'm honestly trying not to hurt you here."

"And I get that," she replied gruffly, "I really do. But when I told you that I didn't want you in my life anymore, it wasn't because I was trying to place conditions on our friendship but because I couldn't watch you chase after girls anymore...not feeling about you the way I do. Watching you kill yourself with drugs and alcohol is bad enough."

"God, Jo..."

"You've been after me for months to talk to you about my feelings. Well, here they are. I'm in love with you, Danny."

"Don't tell me that."

"It's the truth. Now what are you going to do about it?"

"What can I do?"

"For starters, you can tell me how you're expecting this to play out," Jo said, "Because we can't just go back to the way things were before where I was just your good buddy and your safe place to run. We're not kids anymore, Danny."

"So you're saying we can't be friends?"

"I'm saying that I want you in my life but I don't know how to let you back in without causing myself a whole lot of pain in the process. So _you_ tell me how to do this."

"I know I've been insensitive to you and I've screwed up so much," Danny acknowledged remorsefully, "And if I can do something to make that up to you, Jo, I will. I'll do whatever you need me to do because I miss you. I miss us. I want to make this right."

"Okay. Well, if you mean that, you can start by backing off of Lacey Porter."

Danny shook his head in mild confusion. "Lacey? What does she have to do with this?"

"I _work_ with that girl, Danny," Jo emphasized emotionally, "Please don't throw her in my face! I couldn't take it."

"That's not what I'm trying to do, Jo."

"Wasn't that the whole reason you asked me to stay away from her? You didn't want me messing up your chances to get her into bed with my whole sob story about how you loved and left me."

"It's not like that."

"Then what is it like? You tell me!"

The response was there at the ready but Danny clamped down on his reply. Given her already bruised feelings, he was hesitant to explain to Jo his deepening and inexplicable connection to Lacey Porter because that would likely cause her more pain and that was the last thing he wanted to do. He didn't want to give her false hope or mislead her about his intentions but he also didn't want to shatter her heart anymore than he already had. After taking brief moment to carefully choose his next words, Danny said, "Lacey and I are just friends. That's all she wants."

"But that's not all _you_ want, is it?"

"What I want is irrelevant."

"It's not to me," Jo whispered gruffly, "Not when I love you and you don't love me back."

"I _do_ love you...just not like that."

"Maybe you _could_ love me like that if you let yourself, Danny."

"Jo, please don't do this..."

"Listen to me," she urged him, "No one knows you like I do...the good parts of you and the bad parts. Do you honestly think that Lacey is going to stick around when she sees how dark it can get? Do you think she's going to be able to handle it when you get in one of your moods and go all self-destructive? Is she going to be able to pull you out of that black hole like I can?" He averted his face, his jaw tightening as he attempted to shut out the reality of her words. "I love all sides of you, Danny...the light and the dark, the good and the bad. I won't run from you but _she_ will. I guarantee it."

"I told you. I'm not with her," he maintained weakly, "So there's no point in talking about this. What matters right now is if you think you can forgive me...if we can move past this and you can be my friend again, Jo."

"I want to try. But I need to know that you're going to take my feelings into consideration. I don't want to be hurt. I don't want to walk into the hospital one night and find you and Lacey making out in the break room. I don't want to be humiliated that way. I _deserve_ more than that."

"The last thing I want to do is humiliate you, Jo."

"I know I can't expect you to put an indefinite hold on your love life and I'm not asking you to do that," she acknowledged, "All I want is for you to give me some time to be okay with everything...give _us_ time. Maybe if you and I focus on fixing what we had together, we can get to someplace better."

The thread of hope and desperation in her tone made him squirm a little. "Jo, if you're thinking that my feelings for you are going to change somehow then this isn't a good idea and maybe we should continue to keep our distance for now."

Her features crumpled with a repressed sob. "Is that what you want?"

Danny quickly reached across the table to grab her hand. "No. That's not what I want but I don't want to send you mixed messages either. I want us to be friends again but...that's _all_ I want."

"Okay."

"You're saying 'okay,' but-,"

"Okay, Danny," she insisted firmly, " _Okay._ "

"Are you sure?" he pressed.

"I guess I have to be." She favored him with a humorless smile. "Besides, how is my situation any different from yours? Seems like we're both pining for people we can't have."

He grunted a laugh. "I guess you have a point." He regarded her with an uneasy look when she tugged her hand from his grasp and tucked it back into her lap. "So...are we good now? Are you really okay with everything?"

"I'm going to try to be," she sighed.

"Thank you," Danny replied sincerely, "I promise you won't regret this. It means a lot to me. _You_ mean a lot to me, Jo."

"You mean a lot to me too, Danny."

"So...am I allowed to buy you lunch or is that crossing a line for you?"

"Oh, you're definitely buying me lunch, Desai," she laughed before sweeping up her menu, "and you will spare no expense when you do."

Danny unfolded his own menu with a wry chuckle. "Of course."

As he bent his head to peruse the selections Danny completely missed the way Jo's smile faltered and faded altogether once he looked away. She regarded the crown of his head with a sad, yearning expression, wondering to herself if she could possibly live up to any of the words she'd just said to him. She was still contemplating the rumpled waves of his dark hair when the diner door jingled signaling the arrival of new customers. Jo glanced up reflexively and came eye to eye with giggling Lacey Porter. The instant their eyes collided with each other, however, all laughter immediately ceased.

It wasn't too difficult to discern the conclusion Lacey was already coming to as she bounced a stunned look between Jo and Danny and noted how they were seated alone in the booth together. It was clear she was assuming the worst. On a whim, Jo decided to help that disheartening assumption along by reaching across the table and deliberately tucking a stray lock of Danny's hair behind his ear. That seemingly intimate gesture accomplished exactly what Jo hoped it would. With a stricken expression, Lacey quickly mumbled something to her companion and the two of them hastily backed out of the diner just as Danny lifted his head to regard Jo with a confused smile.

"What was that about?" he wondered.

"You...uh...you had a hair thing," she replied softly, "I was just fixing it for you."

"Oh..." he said, returning his attention to the menu, "Well, thanks for looking out."

"Sure..." Jo murmured as she continued to regard him with the same wistful look from before, "No problem."


	10. Chapter Nine

**A/N: So one of you asked me if other characters from Tut are paralleled in this story. They are. When I first started writing this, I had certain characters designated for each other but as I wrote more and more the characters started dictating their own personalities. Tara is someone completely different from who I first perceived but now that her personality has taken full shape, her past identity makes complete sense. As this story progresses, some parallels will be fairly obvious while others will be more subtle. But I don't think you guys should have a hard time figuring out who is who.  
**

 **If you've seen Tut then you know this road is going to get bumpy. Be prepared.**

* * *

 **Chapter Nine**

"Come on, Lacey, what did you expect? The guy is a total player! You said so yourself!"

Lacey had little to say in response to her sister's righteously indignant ant. Instead, she scooted herself deeper into the plush chair in which she had folded herself in an effort to disappear completely, struggling against the strong and undeniable urge to cry. She didn't even know why she was freaking out in the first place. She and Danny were just friends, _barely_ even that. She was the one who had set the rules between them and had dictated that there should be no romance between them whatsoever. So why then did she feel like she had been kicked solidly in the gut at the sight of him having an intimate lunch for two with his ex-girlfriend.

"God, I'm such an idiot," she mumbled more to herself than to Clara, "There's no way I can go volunteer at the hospital tonight. She's definitely going to be there and I can't deal with her smugness right now."

Clara suspended her restless pacing across the living room and whipped to face her with a dubious scowl. "What are you talking about? I know you're not going to let that little twit screw with your future!" she cried, "You didn't do anything wrong. So why are you the one hiding?"

"Technically she didn't do anything wrong either," Lacey muttered in a glum tone, "And she _did_ warn me after all...Danny is only out for himself. I was the one who chose not to believe it."

"Well, going by the looks of her today, she didn't seem to have a problem with him 'being out for himself,'" Clara scoffed, "I'm not saying she wasn't speaking the truth about the guy but it was definitely more for her benefit than yours that she warned you away, Lacey. It's pretty obvious she wants him back...though God knows why," she concluded in a mumbled under-breath.

Lacey tucked her knees closer to her chest, blinking back the fresh onslaught of tears that burned in her eyes. "I don't want to talk about it anymore, Clara."

Filled with empathy at the abject misery beneath her sister's sullen reply, Clara dropped down onto the ottoman directly in front of Lacey. "Be straight with me, Lacey. Are you really _that_ into him?"

She shrugged noncommittally but Clara didn't need verbal confirmation when the answer was written all over Lacey's face. "I know you don't get it."

"You're right," Clara sighed in agreement, "I don't get it. He seems like your typical spoiled, rich playboy. But obviously there must be something redeeming about him otherwise you wouldn't be all twisted in knots like this." She tucked her hands between her knees and hunched forward with sincere interest. "So help me understand. Tell me what's so great about this guy...otherwise I'm going to have to hunt him down and beat him to death with something big and heavy."

Lacey grunted a small laugh. "You're insane."

"I'm serious. What is it about this guy that draws you?"

"It's hard to explain."

"Well, since our plans for my free period are shot now and I have no intentions of going back to school, you might as well spill your guts."

"Aren't you tired of listening to me whine about this?"

"Eh, I figure I owe you after all the years you've covered for me with Mom," Clara teased lightly, "You've gotten me out of trouble and saved me from one stupid mistake after another since I was like eleven. I guess it's _your_ turn now."

"Yeah, I guess it is," Lacey mumbled.

"So..." Clara prodded impatiently, tapping Lacey's knee when she fell silent, "What's the big deal? I know he's rich and attractive and enjoyable in bed but there has to be more to it than that."

"You know, on the outside it seems like he has everything," Lacey recounted softly, "Money. Power. Popularity. He presents this arrogant, confidant air about himself but, in reality, he's this scared, lonely little boy...and I see it every time I look at him. I saw it the first time we met even when he was trying to be cool."

"Maybe that's just part of his game," Clara considered, "He wants you to think he's this poor, abandoned puppy so you'll let your guard down."

Lacey shook her head to refute that theory. "I don't think that's what it is," she replied, "It's definitely not a part of himself that he wants me to see...or _anyone_ for that matter. He thinks it makes him weak and he hates himself for it. I can't explain why I feel this way but...Clara, I _know_ Danny in my heart, in my soul like I've never known anyone else in my entire life and there's so much more to him than what he lets people see."

Clara digested that with a pensive frown. "Okay, so if you know him so well...why do you think he was having lunch with his ex-girlfriend today? I thought you said they were done."

"All I know is that Jo seems to mean a lot to him and it made him sad when she didn't want to be friends with him anymore," Lacey replied, "But I don't think he's in love with her or anything."

"Is that what he told you?"

"Well...not exactly, but..." Lacey hedged softly.

Clara regarded her with a forlorn expression. "Listen, Lacey, I know this might be hard for you to hear but I wouldn't be a good sister to you if I didn't say it...I think you're just seeing what you want to see."

Lacey drew herself into an even smaller ball. "I knew you would think that. That's why I didn't want to talk about it."

"I think you didn't want to talk about it because you know that it's true," Clara insisted softly, "Otherwise, it wouldn't upset you so much to hear it."

"You're wrong. You don't get it at all."

"Stop saying that!" Clara flared, "I _do_ get it, okay! You fell for the guy. Danny made you believe that he has something with you that he's never had with anyone else! He sucked you in with his charm and his wounded bird routine and now you're invested in him and you feel like you need to heal his broken soul. Don't think he didn't plan it that way, Lacey. I've been there, okay! I learned the hard way not to get attached to any guy. They're _all_ liars and they _all_ leave. _Never_ trust them. Just look at what happened to Mom with Dad."

Now it was Lacey's turn to favor her sister with a pitying look. "I hate that you feel that way, Clara. You're way too young to be so bitter."

"I have good reason to be bitter and so do you. Your problem is that you're always trying to see the best in people and sometimes there is no 'best,' Lacey. Sometimes people are just scumbags and you have to accept it and move on!"

"I don't think Danny's a scumbag," Lacey whispered.

"And I don't think he's the poor, innocent lamb you think he is either," Clara countered sagely, "You need to be smart about him and protect your heart. Otherwise, you're just going to be setting yourself up for more of what happened at that diner today. I don't want to spend the next six months watching you cry over this fool."

Clara had just finished issuing that dire warning when Lacey's cell phone suddenly blared into activity on the side table next to Lacey's chair. Her breath caught in her lungs. The number illuminated on the screen was from an unknown caller but Lacey knew instantly who it was and her heart thumped in anticipation as she was torn between answering his call and ignoring him. She darted an uncertain glance at Clara.

"That's Danny," she said, "I gave him my number after class today and he said he was going to call."

"I know you're not going to answer that," Clara scoffed.

"Why shouldn't I? Okay, seeing him at lunch with Jo today threw me for a loop but... Technically, I don't really have any reason to be upset with him," Lacey reasoned lamely, "It's not like we're dating or anything."

Clara growled at her. "I swear to God if you make one more argument like that I'm going to smother you with pillow!"

"Well, it's true!" She started to reach for her cell just as her ringtone stopped playing. Lacey glared at Clara. "You see what you did! You made me miss the call!"

"Oh, boohoo," Clara snarked, "Let me play you a sad song on the world's tiniest violin."

"I'm calling him back," Lacey determined.

Her sister's scathing, "Don't be pathetic!" momentarily halted her intentions. "How am I being pathetic? You're acting like he cheated on me or something!"

"So what if he didn't cheat!" Clara flung back, "He's given you every reason to believe that you're the only girl he's interested in but the second your back is turned he's all over his ex. It's sleazy!"

"We're just friends! He can talk to whoever he wants," Lacey argued.

"Yeah, I guess that's why you cried the entire way home after you saw them together."

"Whatever! I didn't cry!" Lacey barely finished making the denial when her ringtone began playing anew. "I'm going to answer him this time. I don't want him to think I'm playing games."

She made a quick grab for the phone, hoping to catch the call before she missed it altogether but Clara was too swift for her. Her sister had already swiped up the device and danced out of reach before Lacey's fingers could even touch it. Lacey glared at her darkly. "Clara, I don't have time for this! Give it back!" She jumped out of the chair and made another grab for the phone but Clara, predictably, snatched it out of her reach. Lacey growled in frustration. "He's going to hang up!"

"Let him!" Clara retorted in between wild contortions to keep Lacey from getting hold of the cell phone, "He's a douchebag! You're better off without him!"

Lacey managed to get her into a headlock just as the tune finally stopped. "I'm going to kill you," she promised Clara darkly just as the younger girl managed to wriggle from her hold and scurry across the living room. She stalked Clara's every step, her body poised for chase in anticipation of Clara's impending attempt at escape.

"Why do you have to react with such violence?" Clara pouted, careful to keep the phone cradled closely to her breasts, "I'm trying to help you here!"

"You are so dead!"

"Well, since you're already pissed at me, I might as well delete his number from your phone completely."

Lacey froze mid-step. "You wouldn't dare."

"It would be pretty simple," Clara considered, deliberately executing her actions as she spoke them aloud, "All I have to do is put in your password and... _delete_... _delete_... _delete_..."

Her last words escaped her in a breathless grunt as Lacey abruptly tackled her to the ground with an outraged shriek. That was how Judy found them a few seconds later when she made her way through the front door and immediately went running into the living room to investigate all the screaming. Clara was straddled beneath a wrathful Lacey, her arms drawn up around her head to fend off Lacey's slapping blows. Judy took in the scene with a mixture of weariness, impatience and annoyance.

"What the hell is going on here?"

Clara threw her a desperate glance. "Mom, help! She's gone crazy! She's trying to kill me!"

"Lacey, get off of your sister," Judy ordered tartly, "My God! You're a grown ass woman! Can't you two manage to remain civil to each other for _one_ day?"

While Lacey flailed around to defend herself, Clara wisely took the opportunity to squirm to safety and seek asylum behind her mother. Lacey scowled at her. "You don't know what she did to me, Mom!"

Judy rolled a tired look over at Clara. "What did you do?"

"Just saved Lacey from herself!" She stuck out her tongue at the aforementioned. "You would think she'd show a bit more gratitude!" Clara sniffed.

"Be careful, Clare," Lacey warned ominously as she bent to retrieve her fallen cell phone, "Mom's not going to be able to protect you forever."

Her words caused Judy to groan aloud. "Whatever this is, can't you girls just put aside your differences? I'm dealing with enough as it is without you two bickering over trivial things."

Lacey stiffened with affront. "It's not trivial! Clara is poking her nose into stuff that is none of her business!"

"Oh, it's definitely 'my business' when you're whining to me about it every other day!" Clara retorted.

Judy darted a surveying glance between her feuding daughters before finally asking Lacey outright, "This isn't about Chris, is it? He hasn't tried to contact you, has he? Because if you're plotting to run away with him or something like that, Lacey, I can't-,"

"Mom, no!" Lacey interrupted sharply before she could finish her theory, "It's not about Chris. I'm over him. Trust me."

"Then who is it about?" Judy asked suspiciously, "I just walked in here and found you beating your sister. What's going on with you?"

"It's nothing, Mom," Lacey mumbled, "Anyway, I don't have time to discuss it. I need to get ready to go. I'm supposed to be at the hospital in another hour anyway."

Clara grunted. "Oh, so _now_ you're going to go. Why the sudden change of heart?"

"I guess I could use some distance from you right now," Lacey snapped back.

Before Clara could make an antagonistic reply to that, her mother said, "Don't you dare say one word, Clara." She opened her mouth to argue the perceived unfairness of her chastisement but Judy immediately followed up her earlier statement with, "And what are you doing home at this hour anyway? Shouldn't you be in school right now? Clara LeShawnta Porter, how many times have we talked about you cutting school?"

Lacey flashed her sister a bright, artificial smile. "And while you try to explain your way out of this one, I'll be upstairs getting ready for my shift."

By the time Lacey had finished taking her shower and was in the middle of applying her makeup, much of her ire with her sister had cooled. She recognized that Clara's heart had been in a good place. She hadn't deleted Danny's number to be spiteful in any way. She truly believed she was protecting Lacey. It was just her methods for going about that happened to be questionable. But she wasn't quite ready to let Clara off the hook, at least not until she had apologized. Her baby sister needed to learn that her actions had consequences, good intentions or not.

In the meantime, she could only hope that Danny called her back and she could ask him directly what was going on between him and Jo Masterson. However, the instant the thought occurred to her, Lacey felt weak and pathetic for even considering it at all. Had she really sunk so low that she needed reassurance from a guy she'd essentially friendzoned that he was interested in her and only her? First of all, she was certain that would make her appear needy and insecure and Lacey inwardly balked at giving off either impression. And, second of all, Danny was sure to be confused by what he'd perceive as mixed signals from her. He'd think she was jealous and there was no way Lacey was having that either.

While Lacey didn't necessarily share her sister's abysmally low opinion of Danny Desai, she also recognized the wisdom of not leaving herself open to heartbreak. She wouldn't go out of her way to actively avoid him or anything but there was definitely nothing wrong with waiting for _him_ to call _her_ again. If Danny was being truly genuine about his interest in her then he could put up with a tiny bit of chasing. In the meantime, Lacey was not going to five Jo Masterson even the smallest bit of satisfaction by asking her any details about her lunch with Danny that afternoon.

That was exactly what she wanted, Lacey was sure. No doubt she expected Lacey to barrage her with questions, demanding to know the exact nature of her relationship with Danny. The smug, superior sneer she'd flashed at Lacey that afternoon in the diner basically confirmed her suspicions. She had wanted to rub it in Lacey's face that she was with Danny right then. She was going to be bitterly disappointed if she expected Lacey to crack. True, she had been and was still hurt over having seen them together that afternoon but she would be damned if she let that smirking, blonde twit know it!

Lacey continued to keep that resolve fixed firmed in her mind when she strode through the automated doors of the hospital emergency department and made her way towards the common breakroom to store her things. Her bravado, unfortunately, lasted just as long as it took her to realize that Jo was already there. The instant she heard her enemy's voice, Lacey froze in her tracks. The dread and reluctance she had felt earlier at the prospect of seeing Jo resurged in her breast and, right then, she wanted nothing more than to ignore the blonde girl entirely. She started to turn away from the door when the sound of an unfamiliar male voice abruptly caught her attention. Before she could talk herself out of it, Lacey crept closer and inclined her ear, straining to hear the conversation that was presently unfolding between Jo and the unknown guy.

"...makes you so sure that it's not?" the mystery man was asking, "You should have a test to be sure. There _could_ be a chance but it's like you won't even consider it!"

"I've already told you before that it's not possible, Archie," came Jo's taut reply, "Just trust me, okay, and please stop asking me about it! You're not helping! I'll never figure this mess out if you keep twisting everything around in my head."

Lacey couldn't be sure but she thought his next words to her were, "My offer stands just like before. I'll marry you, Jo."

"Like that's an answer," she muttered.

"And this is a better one? All this sneaking around that you're doing?" he charged.

Her reply was mumbled and petulant but Lacey still managed to make it out. "I'm not sneaking around."

"But you _are_ lying," Archie pointed out, "You're pushing away the people who actually care about you! How do you explain that?"

"That is not what I'm doing! I don't have to tell anyone anything," Jo said, "It's _my_ business."

"And what about Danny? It's _his_ business too, right?"

"Like you care!" Jo snorted, "If you had your way, he wouldn't even be in the equation."

"But he is...and I'm willing to accept that, if I have to. I'm just trying to understand why you haven't told him...about what's going on with you and about _us_."

"There is no us, Archie. I don't know what we were doing together but it's over now. I told you that it's never going to happen again."

Archie scoffed under his breath. "Because you're too concerned with what Danny might think of you. God, Jo! You didn't betray him! Neither did I."

"How do you think it's going to look when I finally tell him the truth and then, in the next breath, tell him about us. It's not going to look good. He'll have doubts and I don't want that! You don't understand, Archie. I've loved him since I was eight years old. I'm so close to having what I've always wanted. Don't screw this up for me."

"You don't love him, Jo. You love the fantasy version of him that you've built up in your head. You won't let yourself see the real Danny...just like you won't let him see the _real_ you."

"That is not true!"

"We both know who it was that saw that part of you."

"Stop it!"

A tense, ominous silence ticked by before he demanded again, "Then why haven't you told him?"

"You know why! I have never wanted him to feel obligated to me."

"Oh yeah, I forgot. You're waiting for him to realize that you're his soulmate," Archie retorted derisively, "All you're doing is setting yourself up for disappointment, Jo. Don't do this. Let me help you. Let me take care of you. You don't have to do this alone."

"Archie, please stop doing this to me..." she pleaded in a broken voice, "I have a clear picture in my head and you keep confusing me." It was the thread of sorrow and longing in her tone that made Lacey creep even closer. "You have to stop coming after me like this. You can't keep showing up this way. People will start to talk and it will get back to Danny. He's not stupid."

"That's the least of my concerns right now!"

"Fine! How about I don't want you flunking out of school because of me?"

"I'm not flunking," he told her, "But even if I was it wouldn't matter. The only thing that matters to me right now is you, Jo. You're the one who's in trouble. How long do you think you can hide your condition...especially from your dad?"

"As long as I have to."

Lacey frowned, the hairs on the back of her neck prickling at the mention of Jo's "condition." She couldn't really be sure what Archie was so cryptically referring to but she knew that she didn't like the sound of it. Not once did she consider how strange and idiotic she must look to the casual passersby. She was too invested in the conversation to turn away now.

"...you haven't even had proper medical care!" Archie was currently ranting.

Jo expelled a disgruntled sigh at that. "Oh no, not this again."

"Eventually it's going to become obvious to everyone, Jo, even your precious Danny and how do you think he's going to feel about you lying to him this whole time?"

There was more that was said between them that Lacey couldn't make out at all because their voices were so low but somehow that straining silence only ramped up the intensity of the moment. Finally, she heard Jo saying, "...we are finally getting to a better place. We're talking again, Archie, _really_ talking. This could lead to something good. I'm just waiting for the right time to tell him."

"And when the hell is that?" Archie scoffed, "When he stops being a self-destructive screw-up? Danny can barely take care of himself. How is he supposed to take care of you, Jo? He's drugging and drinking just like he's always done!"

"And who's been the one taking him out to get drunk in the first place?" Jo fired back harshly, "Part of me thinks you want Danny to stay a mess just so I'll have no choice but to lean on you!"

"I know I haven't been cleaning up Danny's crap as long as you have but let's not pretend that I haven't dealt with my fair share," he muttered in a bitter tone, "I love Danny too. He's my best friend but, unlike you, I don't wear rose-colored glasses when it comes to him. I know what he is and what he'll _never_ be. I'm just waiting for you to figure it out too."

Lacey had just enough time to scurry away from the door and straighten herself as the heretofore faceless "Archie" came stalking from the break room. He was tall and undeniably good-looking, with dirty blonde hair and striking blue eyes. And while it was evident that he was clearly angry as he practically mowed past Lacey towards the exit, it was also pretty clear that he was hurt as well. She was still staring after him, trying to piece together the fragments of the cryptic conversation she'd overheard when Jo stepped from the breakroom. Lacey tensed immediately.

"You're late," Jo bit out shortly.

Still shaking a bit in the aftermath of what she'd overheard, Lacey surveyed her with a doleful expression. "Actually, I'm not. I'm a volunteer," she reminded Jo, "Technically I can show up whenever I want but keep trying."

"Whatever," the blonde grunted in a tired tone, "Are you here to work or do you just plan to loiter in the hallway all night long?"

"Just tell me where you want me tonight."

"Put your stuff away and I'll give you your assignment when you come to the front."

Lacey stared after Jo curiously as she walked away, noting for the first time how loosely Jo always dressed. She had never seen her when she wasn't dressed in baggy pants or a large loose, fitting jacket. Even the smock they were required to wear for their volunteer services seemed to swim on her. There was also the undeniable fullness to her face, the times when Lacey had inadvertently caught her napping in the breakroom and even the territorial attitude she displayed when it came to Danny Desai. Lacey was beginning to suspect that there was much more to it than Jo Masterson simply being a jealous girlfriend and the implications made her feel a little sick to her stomach. It also made her realize that getting involved with Danny in any capacity more than a friend was probably a very bad idea.

Her thoughts swirling chaotically, Lacey turned to go into the breakroom with a dejected sigh just as she felt her cell phone buzz in the pocket of her smock. She pulled it free and immediately recognized the unknown call from earlier. Danny Desai was calling again. This time, however, Lacey didn't need her little sister to arbitrarily delete the call and turn off her cell phone.

She did it herself.


	11. Chapter Ten

**Chapter Ten**

Danny took a deep breath and poked his head into Kyle Masterson's office. "Hey? You got a minute?" The instant he saw the junior accountants gathered around Masterson's desk, however, he started to back out. "I can come back another time."

"No! Stay," Kyle insisted firmly, "I've been hoping you would drop by." Despite the fact that Danny's arrival had been unexpected and unannounced and the rather obvious detail that he was in the middle of a meeting with his accounting team, Kyle regarded Danny with a warm expression and said, "Give us ten minutes to finish up and then we can talk."

After bobbing an appreciative nod, Danny stepped back into the small waiting cubicle just outside the accountant's office. He couldn't help feeling a little conspicuous. It was difficult to ignore the wry, sideways glances he received from passing staff as they bustled about in their daily activities. Danny didn't know if they were puzzled by his presence or alarmed. Due to his marked disinterest in business affairs heretofore, Danny imagined that the employees weren't all that impressed to see him, probably doubted that they ever see the day where he took an interest in them at all. They likely imagined that he had merely come to benefit himself and couldn't possibly be concerned for their day to day.

Six months ago that had certainly been true. Danny had zero interest in his grandfather's company. His plan was simply to sign the business over to his father when he came of age and, afterwards, take his inheritance and walk away. He didn't imagine he had anything to offer the business or the hundreds of employees who equipped it to run. Now, he was beginning to wonder if he was wrong. Now, the thought of his employees perceiving him as someone who didn't care pained him and pricked at his conscience.

Danny wanted to make his mark but in all actuality he had no idea what he was doing. When he had first begun going to Kyle Masterson with his questions about the Desai family business, his interest had been merely generic and rather superficial. What did the company sell? How did they market their products? Who was their biggest client? How much money did they make annually? How many assets were owned by Desai Corporation?

From there he had learned that Desai Corp held major interests in medical supplies, pharmaceuticals and funding for medical research, which peaked Danny's interest greatly. The company also had shares in everything from automotives to cleaning products but Danny thought they could better serve the public and their employees by focusing on one particular interest rather than serving as a "jack of all trades." He was excited by the idea of what they could do if the company directed more time and assets towards research for diseases like cancer, diabetes and AIDS as well as education directed towards minimizing the risks of contracting such illnesses and how to manage them once they were manifested.

Only one person knew about his secret passion about that. He had mentioned it to Lacey that first night they had met in the diner. She had been so fervent and heartfelt about her future as a nurse and the impact she eventually hoped to make in her patients' lives that he'd felt compelled to share with her the many ways he wanted to impact their lives as well. He had never mentioned those desires to another person before, partly out of fear because he thought they might see him as ridiculous and partly because the one person he would have confided in about it, Jo, wasn't speaking to him at the time.

His visions for the future of his grandfather's company had been stoked anew after talking to Lacey and he had even begun to consider whether he should seriously pitch the idea to his father. That, however, had been nearly three week prior and, presently, Danny was back to being filled with self-doubt and insecurity. Tara never passed up the opportunity to remind him that he was an idiot and a screw-up and it was becoming increasingly difficult to banish her voice, especially when his father was beginning to echo similar sentiments. According to Tara, he would destroy his grandfather's company the same way he was destroying himself.

And he couldn't refute her. It seemed that everything he touched in his life inevitably turned to crap. His was on the outs with his dad. Lacey was avoiding him. Things were getting better with Jo finally but that process was still majorly tentative given her ongoing feelings for him. And now even Archie was becoming distant and short-tempered with him. When he had tried to seek his best friend's advice on Lacey the night before after he became aware that she was dodging his calls on purpose, Archie had blown up at him without warning.

"Don't you have bigger things to worry about in life than your next piece of ass!" he had ranted before hanging up on Danny altogether.

At first, Danny had been angry and a little hurt that Archie had arrived at that conclusion so easily, that he obviously believed Danny so depthless that he would expect his friend to call him at one o'clock in the morning simply because he couldn't get a girl to sleep with him. But then he remembered that as recently as a month ago, he had been _that_ guy. It was only recently that he had began to ponder over the fact that he didn't want to be that guy and started contemplating ways to change that. In the meantime, he supposed Archie had a legitimate reason to be aggravated with him. Unfortunately, all his attempts to call and explain himself had proved in vain. Archie had now taken to avoiding his calls as well.

Truthfully, the past 24 hours for Danny had been nothing short of hell. In that time, he'd had another fight with his father over asking Tara to leave, had somehow pissed off Archie and Lacey both and further incurred Tara's wrath against him which had allowed her to manipulate his father into contemplating whether Danny "needed a treatment facility to deal with his issues." As per usual, the problem, according to Vikram, wasn't Tara's cruel, hateful and downright abusive treatment of Danny but rather how Danny chose to respond to her ill treatment...with drugs, alcohol and sex.

Danny wasn't entirely surprised by the outcome. He had been having the same circular argument with his father for years now. But somehow the sting had felt more acute the night before, perhaps because Danny truly felt like he had no one in his corner. He was being abandoned by everyone he cared about. Again, that wasn't something necessarily new to him but it especially hurt coming from Lacey, which felt ridiculous because he barely knew her at all.

In all honesty, he had been half expecting her reaction anyway. Lacey had placed so many provisos and stipulations on the mere _possibility_ of them becoming friends that Danny knew any overture he made would be doomed to failure. Of course, he had hoped for the best. When she had pressed that folded slip of paper with her cell phone number into his palm after class it had felt akin to being handed a second chance at redemption.

He had called her a grand total of five times and left her two voices messages by the time the night was over. Every single one had gone ignored. In a moment of desperation, he had even driven by the hospital in hopes that he might catch a glimpse of her but had maintained enough self-awareness and pride not to actually go into the emergency department looking for her. That day at school, he had also looked for her between classes but his confusion and hurt had now given way to irritation instead.

It wasn't that he thought that she was _obligated_ to like him or even that she didn't have the prerogative to change her mind about him if she chose to do so but he, at least, deserved to hear that. She could have the guts to tell him to his face rather than leaving him to trail after her like some abandoned puppy. What he couldn't understand was why she'd even given him her number in the first place when it was clear she was still unsure about him. Lacey hadn't initially struck him as someone who liked to play games but now he wasn't so sure. Really, he wasn't so sure about _anything_ lately.

Inevitably then, Danny was starting to feel like his life was spinning out of control. Everything he viewed as familiar and stable was beginning to collapse beneath his feet. Therefore, he had run to the one person who had never sugar-coated matters with, a man who had been frankly and, sometimes, brutally honest with him for as long as he could remember. Kyle Masterson. If anyone could help Danny find some true direction in his life, it would be him.

Danny was still clinging to that fierce hope when Masterson finally emerged from his office with his junior accountants in tow. After he finished sending them on their way, he motioned for Danny to step into his office.

"Thank you for seeing me, sir," he said as he hastily shifted to his feet to shake Masterson's hand, "I know I dropped by unannounced."

"You're well within your right to do that, remember?" the accountant teased lightly, "You are the boss, after all." He closed the door firmly behind Danny then and also shut the blinds to afford them with more privacy. "I'm glad you decided to come by today," he told Danny when he turned to face him again, all traces of amusement wiped from his stern countenance, "You and I have some important things to discuss."

Danny took a seat in the closest empty chair while Masterson propped his hip against the corner of his highly polished desk. "We do?" he asked the accountant in wary surprise, "Things like what?"

"I thought you might like to know that someone has been embezzling money from your company."

That stunning news caused Danny to rear upright in his chair. "What?"

"For the last six months," Masterson confirmed grimly, "Someone has been siphoning out money at regular intervals."

"How much?"

"Close to ten million dollars and counting."

Danny cringed anew. "What? How does something like that even happen?"

"Very, very carefully. From what I've discovered in the accounting records there have been quite a few diversions of company funds happening."

"But shouldn't you have picked up on this sooner?" Danny demanded with a mildly accusing air, "You are the company's chief accountant after all."

"I'm also not the only one with access to the company's funds, Danny," Masterson reminded him.

Danny wilted back into his seat with a small nod of acceptance. "Does my father know about this?"

Kyle gave a terse shake of his head. "Besides my team, you're the only one that I've told."

"Do you know who it is?"

"Not yet but I have a few suspects in mind. I'm still working on sorting out the money trail. I know that the money is being shuffled around but I haven't yet determined where it's ending up."

"Is the company in trouble?"

"There could be some fall out," Masterson replied, "I'm trying to minimize the damage as I go."

Danny was quiet and reflective as he absorbed the news. Finally, he said, "You think it's my Aunt Tara, don't you? It makes sense. She'd definitely do something like this."

"She's one possibility."

His reply caused Danny to fix him with a narrowed glare. "What is that supposed to mean? It's obviously her. She knows that once I turn twenty-one she's going to be out on her ass. I wouldn't put it past her to sabotage the company just to spite me.

"You should tell me dad," he insisted to Kyle firmly, "He thinks that Tara can do no wrong. I've been trying to convince him to kick her out and this just might be the catalyst he needs. If he knew that she was stealing from the company then it might open his eyes to who she truly is."

"What makes you think he doesn't know already?" Masterson challenged.

"There's no way my father would stand aside while Tara steals from him," Danny argued.

"Why not? He stands aside while she verbally castigates his son."

Danny jerked his eyes aside, his face heating with shame. "That's different. I'm a screw-up. This company is my dad's legacy, his last chance to prove to Aravinda Desai that he was wrong. He wouldn't let anyone jeopardize that, not even Tara. You need to tell him what you know."

"I'm telling _you_ , Danny," Masterson emphasized.

"What am _I_ supposed to do about it?" Danny flared in frustration.

"This is your company!"

"In name only! I have no idea what I'm doing! You know that! The only reason we're even having this conversation is because my grandfather wanted to send one final 'go to hell' to his children. I'm a freaking punch line, Mr. Masterson! You gotta tell my dad what's happening. If you don't, then I will."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Masterson warned him.

"Why not?"

"Because there's a chance that _Vikram_ is the one embezzling the money."

For the second time in a ten minute span, Danny felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him. "No..." he protested weakly, "...that's not true. He wouldn't do that."

Masterson ticked off the possibilities on his fingers. "He has always lived in his sister's shadow. For as long as I've known him, he hasn't made a move without her say so. Even with the twisted relationship they both had with Aravinda, Vikram was clearly a disappointment in his eyes and always second choice. Vikram has the means and the motives to steal from this company and sabotage it."

"But that would mean he was lying to me about wanting to make Desai Corp greater than it was under his father," Danny argued, "It would mean he's been manipulating me this entire time!"

"Do you think he's incapable of that?"

Danny went perfectly still, suddenly afraid to contemplate the question let alone answer it. "What are you saying right now, Mr. Masterson?"

"I think it's time for you to consider the possibility that maybe your father doesn't have your best interests at heart," Masterson said, "Maybe he's looking out for himself. That's probably the only thing he learned from having Aravinda Desai as a father."

"So how am I any different?" Danny muttered bitterly, "I come from the same bloodline. How do you know that I'm not just as selfish as you accuse my father of being?"

"You're here right now," Kyle replied softly, "There's nothing obligating you to be here, Danny. You could stick with your plan, sign the company over to your father, take your inheritance and disappear just like you've been saying you wanted to do since you were thirteen. But I can see in your eyes that isn't what you truly want. I know you want to have a stake in this company, not because you're out to prove something to someone or because you crave power but because you truly care."

"But you're wrong about my father," Danny insisted, "He cares too. His only crime is that he places way too much faith in my Aunt Tara."

"And yours is that you don't put enough faith in yourself," Kyle countered, "You are capable of great things, Danny. Why won't you let yourself believe it?"

"Why do you care?" Danny retorted somewhat peevishly.

Kyle managed to take his petulant response in stride. He crossed his arms and regarded Danny with a penetrating look. "You wouldn't be so angry if, deep down, you didn't harbor the same suspicions that I do," he said, "Listen to your instincts, Danny. I know you can benefit this company. You can become whatever you want to be but you have to maintain your focus."

"Are you freaking kidding me? Do you know how many times I've been arrested in the last two years?" Danny scoffed, "I'm a fuc...I'm a freshman in college, for crying out loud! I don't even know what I want to do with my life!"

"Yes, you do."

"And you know this based on what?"

"Based on the fact that you've been pestering me about this company for the last six months! This is more than a passing interest for you and you know it."

"You're expecting more of me than I'm capable," Danny mumbled in a despondent tone, "I'll disappoint you. I always do."

"I'm not expecting perfection, Danny, but I want you to _try_!"

"Again...why do you care?" This time Danny's words lacked their caustic, accusatory edge and were instead tempered with confusion.

Kyle favored him with a kind, almost fatherly look. "I've watched you grow up, Danny. I am well aware the kind of home in which you've been raised. You got a raw deal and it's not surprising that you're lost and afraid. But this is your chance to stand up and take control of your future. This is _your_ choice now. So what are you going to do?"

When Danny stepped out of Kyle Masterson's office five minutes later, he felt as if his day had degenerated from bad to worse. He was no closer to the answers he was seeking and he still had absolutely no idea what he should do next. He did know, however, that his confidence in Vikram was beginning to weaken. Kyle Masterson's allegations had struck a chord with him. Truthfully, the suspicion had always been there, simmering just beneath the surface, but Danny had never let himself confront it before and now that he had he couldn't close his eyes against it any longer.

He could still hear Kyle Masterson's last bit of advice burning in his ears. "Don't make a decision right now," he had told Danny, "Watch your father. Analyze his motives and then decide whether your trust in him is misplaced or not."

Danny stood at the elevators, contemplating just that when Jo's teasing voice suddenly sounded behind him. "You look like you're concentrating really hard."

He jerked to attention, snapped from his brooding thoughts and pivoted to face her with a grateful smile. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you."

Jo released a good-natured groan. "That could either be very good or very bad."

"It's very good," he reassured her, "I wanted to call you last night and thank you for lunch but I didn't know if I'd be pushing things."

"Probably for the best," Jo considered, "I was volunteering at the hospital last night so I wouldn't have had much time to talk. But...just for the record...you wouldn't have been pushing anything. I really enjoyed having lunch with you yesterday. I missed that."

"Me too. I've missed talking to you. I've missed having your perspective on things."

"Is that your roundabout way of implying you need my perspective now?"

"Not really but having a sounding board would be nice," he said, "This day has been complete crap."

"Do I even want to know why...especially because I'm pretty sure you just came from my dad's office."

"It wasn't anything he said," Danny clarified quickly, "In fact, he gave me a lot to think about. Your father is a good man."

"I think so too."

Danny cocked his head and regarded Jo with a speculative look. "Why didn't you ever tell him about us...I mean...about what happened between us?" he wondered softly.

Jo ducked her head with a self-conscious frown. "Danny, my dad and I are close but not _that_ close. Besides, I thought we decided that we were both to blame for what happened that night."

"I guess what I'm saying is that I appreciate you not saying anything," Danny sighed, "I don't know if I could take yet another person cutting me off, you know?"

"Another person?" Jo echoed in a thoughtful tone, "Who's cut you off?"

"Archie. I tried calling him earlier but he's not answering." Danny was so preoccupied with his disappointment and hurt over that fact that he completely missed the imperceptible stiffening Jo had at the mention of his best friend. "He's pissed off at me about something but I don't know what."

"I seriously doubt it," Jo replied with feigned nonchalance, "He's probably busy with classes. Not everyone can be a professional slacker such as yourself."

"No, it's not that. When we talked on the phone last night he seemed irritated with me."

Though it required concerted effort, Jo managed to keep her breathing even and tempered. "You guys talked? About what?"

Danny shifted uncomfortably at the question. "Nothing really," he hedged.

"Obviously something if you think he's mad at you," Jo pressed, "So what did you talk about?"

"I don't think you want to hear about it."

Jo's lips thinned into an embittered line. "Oh. That must mean you were talking about _her_."

"It's not what you're thinking," Danny rushed to reassure her.

"And what am I thinking?"

"That I called Archie to strategize an angle with Lacey."

She regarded him with a narrowed glare. "You're saying you didn't?"

"No, I didn't. I'm mostly trying to figure her out."

"Figure her out how?"

Danny hesitated before answering. "Are you sure you want to hear this?"

"I'm asking, aren't I?"

"Lacey and I have World Civilization together," he sighed in explanation, "Yesterday she gave me her number after class and told me to call her but when I did, she never picked up the phone and she didn't call me back. I'm still trying to figure out what I did wrong."

"Probably nothing," Jo considered with false magnanimity. She deliberately refrained from mentioning to him that the reason Lacey might be avoiding his calls was because she might have gotten the wrong impression after seeing them at lunch the day before. Instead, she continued, "For the record, Lacey seems like she'd be one of those really high maintenance types. I get the impression that she wants her to chase her, Danny, but she's not actually interested in pursuing anything with you."

"I told you that Lacey and I are just friends, Jo."

"Come on, Danny!" she snorted tartly, "I'm not an idiot. I know you're into her." He said nothing in response to that but Jo didn't need him to say a word. She knew she was right. Consequently, Jo shrewdly calculated her next statement to him. "You said earlier that you missed having my perspective on things, right?" she reminded him, "Is that still true?"

Danny blew out a shuddering sigh. "Yes. It's still true."

"I get that you want Lacey. She's pretty. She's smart. She's driven. Just your type _but_..." she prefaced meaningfully, "I don't think she's as interested in you as you are in her."

"Is that what she told you?"

"Not in so many words," Jo prevaricated, "But it's obvious from the few conversations I've had with her that she thinks you're beneath her. The very first time I tried to warn her away from you she told me outright that she didn't want you in the first place."

"Oh."

"I know this is hard for you to hear but, you need to know the truth about her. I've worked quite a few shifts with Lacey so far and she seems like she has a lot of pent up anger. I guess she had a bad breakup prior to moving here and now she's really bitter about it. I think she's purposely trying to make a fool of you to prove a point. Maybe she's using you to punish her ex."

"I don't know, Jo. That just doesn't seem like her."

"How would you know?" Jo retorted, "You don't really know anything about her, Danny! She's a stranger to you! Besides, why else would she give you her number and then not answer your call? She's stringing you along! She's playing games! I thought you, of all people, would be able to recognize that!"

Because it wasn't a theory that hadn't already occurred to him, Danny could do little more than shove his hands into his pockets and hunch his shoulders forward in defeat. "So what do you think I should do?"

"Forget about her," Jo advised, "Avoid her completely. You go your way and let her go hers. She's not worth your time. You have more important things to focus on anyway...like cleaning up your life and school. Lacey Porter shouldn't even be on your radar."

Danny's lips twisted in a wry smile. "That's essentially the same thing Archie said to me before he hung up in my face."

"Wow. Archie Yates actually managed to give good advice for once. I'm impressed."

"I'll tell him that you approve...if he ever speaks to me again."

As Jo contemplated his forlorn profile, she blurted out the first words that came to her mind. "We should hang out tonight. You need a distraction."

Danny coughed out a stunned laugh. "What are you talking about?"

"You look like you could use a friend," she said, "We could go to dinner or catch a movie. Whatever you want. It's my treat."

"I...I don't know, Jo," Danny hedged, "I don't want to send you mixed signals or anything."

"I know where I stand with you, Danny. This isn't about me. It's about you. I just want to make you feel better."

"What about your dad? Aren't you here to see him?"

"He and I can talk later. I'll pop my head in, say a quick hello and then you and I can be on our way. _You're_ the one who needs me right now."

Danny offered her a small smile, relaxing for the first time in two days. "Thanks for being a friend. I really needed one today."

"You don't have to thank me, Danny," she murmured as he fell into step beside her, "I want you to be happy. That's why I'm doing this for you. That's all I've wanted since we were little kids." She tossed him an earnest, yearning glance as they walked along together. "Just try to remember that, okay...no matter what happens."

"Okay, Jo," he promised softly, "I will."


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Chapter Eleven**

Lacey tensed the instant Danny stepped into class. She clenched her fists in her lap and held her breath in anticipation, waiting for the moment when he would take his seat directly behind her. However, she was surprised and a little disappointed when he sat in a different seat and a different row altogether. He didn't even make eye contact with her at all but instead took out his book and notebook in preparation for class. It was as if she didn't even exist for him.

That unexpected development left Lacey squirming in her seat a little. She had anticipated that he would be aggravated with her but not that he would completely ignore her. She had been prepared for an angry confrontation, not passive apathy which was a thousand times worse than any outburst of temper.

In retrospect, she couldn't really blame Danny for his reaction however. She knew that she had taken the coward's way out by ignoring his calls but she truly hadn't known what else to do. The possibility that Jo Masterson might be pregnant with his baby had left her reeling a little. Matters between them were already complicated enough with his reputation, their respective personal issues and the tentative trust between them. Adding in a baby to the mix just seemed to take everything to an entirely new level. It seemed that every time Lacey prepared herself to take the figurative plunge with Danny something would invariably happen to make her pull back again.

A baby, especially one that Danny didn't know about, seemed like more than what Lacey could handle. And while, at the moment, all she had was conjecture and speculation to go on, the more she considered the theory, especially in relation to Jo's almost obsessive possessiveness of Danny, the more it made sense. The only question that remained was did she want to be directly in the middle of things when the fallout happened. Was she, in essence, biting off more than she could chew with Danny Desai?

Honestly, she wasn't in any position to be considering another relationship anyway. She was fresh out of a breakup herself. And despite the fact that she and Chris had begun drifting apart long before they officially called it quits, that relationship still had constituted two years of her life. Shouldn't she grieve for the loss of it a little longer than a month? Was it really wise for her to be considering moving on already and with a guy who had tons and tons of emotional baggage besides? Yet, even as Lacey asked herself the questions, she knew that she'd already made up her mind. Danny Desai had managed to wiggle his way under her skin and now there was no way of getting him out.

She was, in effect, stuck.

The realization was a disheartening one, made more so by the fact that Danny was currently not speaking to her. Throughout the entirety of their lecture she silently willed him to look at her, even if only to shoot her a death glare but he couldn't spare her even that. He kept his eyes trained on their instructor and she kept her eyes trained on him.

Consequently, the majority of the lecture happened on the periphery of Lacey's consciousness. She didn't process a single word. She was hyperaware of each rhythmic tap of Danny's pencil, the whispering scrape of his clothing when he shifted in his seat, the reflexive way his would tunnel his slim fingers through his unbound hair... She took notice of all of it. If she hadn't known that she was falling for Danny before that moment, Lacey certainly knew it afterwards. The knowledge filled her with fluttery anticipation and dread all at the same time.

The instant class was concluded Lacey wasted no time slamming her textbook shut and taking off after Danny, who left immediately once the professor dismissed them. She weaved her way deftly through the crush of students winding through the cramped hallways, careful to keep her eyes trained on him as she made her pursuit. She caught up with him just as he reached the glass doors leading out into the main courtyard.

"Danny, wait a second!" she cried before he could disappear altogether. He froze in his tracks at her request but didn't turn around to face her immediately. Pushing past the discouragement she felt over that, Lacey swallowed her pride and asked, "Could you and I talk for a minute?"

He still didn't face her when he shook his head and said, "Can't. I gotta get to class."

She probably should have let him go then. While she had been unable to see his expression due to the fact he kept his back to her, the tension emanating from his body had been palpable. His hands had been fisted at his sides as he spoke to her, making it clear that he wasn't merely annoyed with her. He was actually pretty furious. Part of Lacey wanted to take refuge in her resentment that he should be mad at her in the first place. After all, she didn't owe him anything. She hadn't promised him anything. If she didn't want to answer his call...well, she was within her right to do so.

But Lacey knew that was a cop-out. It would certainly be easier to assign blame to him than to admit that she took the coward's way out by avoiding him. Her conscience, as well as her persistent desire for him, wouldn't allow her to do that. So, instead of letting him walk away, she ran after him instead, darting around the groups of students in her path until she fell into step beside him.

Danny shot her an astounded look when she caught up with him which he quickly masked behind a facade of aggravated disgust. Without ever slowing his gait, he demanded, "What the hell are you doing, Lacey?"

"I thought we could talk on the way."

He flicked her a scathing glare before quickening his steps. "I wasn't aware we had anything to talk about."

It took some effort but Lacey managed to keep in time with his long, purposeful strides. "I...I wanted to explain to you why I didn't answer your calls the other day."

Danny expelled a short, caustic snort. "You don't need to explain. I don't care, Lacey."

"You don't care?" she echoed dubiously.

"Nope. Not anymore."

"Okay, I get it. You're pissed at me," Lacey surmised gruffly.

He abruptly stopped and pivoted to face her with that assessment, his expression stony with anger. "No, that's not it," Danny corrected flatly, though the dark scowl on his face belied his denial, "I honestly _don't_ care! I'm not trying to force you to do something you don't want to do, Lacey! If you want me to leave you alone then I will. But stop playing games with me, okay!"

"I'm not doing that at all!"

"Aren't you?" he challenged, "You run hot and cold like no girl I've ever met! You have sex with me but then you say you're done afterwards. Then you tell me you want to avoid me because I was nothing but a fling and in the next breath you tell me you want to be friends! You give me your number so I can call you but then you don't answer when I do! I'm sick of the back and forth!"

"So am I!" she cried, "You don't think that there is a part of me that just wants to walk away from you and be done, Danny? I've _tried_ that and I can't do it!"

For a moment, she saw a breech in his emotional armament as he was reluctantly swayed by the genuine confusion in her voice. But then he shook it off, his features hardening into an inscrutable mask. He took a resolute step backwards. "Whatever. You don't have to worry about it anymore. I'll make the decision for you."

He started to walk off once again but Lacey instinctively charged after him and caught hold of his backpack to waylay him. "Damn it, Danny, will you wait? Just let me explain!"

Danny whipped to face her with a low growl, clearly caught between fury and unconcealed hurt. "God, if you're so hot to talk, Lacey, wouldn't it have been easier to answer my call the other night rather than stalking me across campus?" he snapped, "Or is this how you like it and you just get off on the drama?" He regretted the words almost the instant they left his mouth but, by that time, it was too late to call them back.

Lacey breath caught in her chest in a pained gasp at his cruel retort and she stumbled back a step. But then she quickly concealed the hurt he'd dealt her and stiffened her shoulders. "You know what? If you can't get why this thing between us would be hard for me then just...screw you!"

She turned on her heel and started to leave and, that time, it was Danny's turn to chase after _her_. With a low, groaning curse, he swiveled around and snagged hold of her jacket before she could run off. "Lacey, wait! Please." She halted immediately at his request which prompted him to let go of her clothing. They stood together awkwardly, both having difficulty making eye contact with one another. "That was a crappy thing to say to you just now," Danny mumbled ruefully, "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too. I'm honestly _not_ trying to play games with you." Lacey stared at the tips of her boots blindly, fearful that if she looked at him right then she would burst into tears. "Is that what you really think of me?"

"I don't know. Yes. No. Not really."

She nibbled her lower lip and chanced a tentative look at him. "Which is it?"

"All of it," he admitted tiredly, his anger abruptly draining from him, "I don't know what it is you want from me, Lacey. I'm starting to get whiplash trying to figure it out."

"It's pretty simple really. I want you to stop being so scary," she whispered, "Being with you is like stepping off of a cliff, Danny. I don't know how far it is down to the bottom or where I'm going to land or if anyone will be there to catch me when I do. It's terrifying."

"You think _I'm_ terrifying?" he scoffed with a mirthless laugh, " _You're_ the one who's terrifying! Nothing in my life has been the same since I met you! I think about you all the time, Lacey. You're like sunlight in my life after years of thunderstorms. I look forward to the day based solely on the possibility that I might see you. I'm not trying to have a fling with you. I want something real. I've wanted that from the beginning...and it's pretty clear by now that you don't."

"It's not that I don't want something real, Danny. I just don't know if that's possible between us not when everything I know about you should send me screaming in the other direction."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"I'm trying to be honest. What I feel for you is so complicated. I'm drawn to you even when I feel I should know better."

Danny slumped forward with a defeated sigh. "Look, what I told you before still stands. I'm not trying to force you to do something you don't want to do, Lacey. If this is too much, you can walk away."

"I don't feel 'forced' to do anything," she assured him softly, "And walking away stopped being an option long time ago."

"So you keep saying but your actions say something else. Every time you and I start to get close, you run. And I can't keep chasing you."

"And I realize that," Lacey acknowledged meaningfully, "That's the entire reason I'm trying to explain to you what's been going on in my head. I should have done that the other day instead of avoiding you but I kind of had a kneejerk reaction and everything just snowballed from there."

"Lacey, you don't owe me an apology, okay. You don't owe me anything at all. I don't have any claim to you. We slept together one night. It was good but now it's over."

"I think we both know that it's not over."

"Well, maybe it _should_ be," he countered softly, "Even if I thought that talking about this with you was a good idea, I don't have the time to hash it out with you right now. I'm probably going to have to talk my way into class as it is."

"Maybe we can meet up after you're done then," Lacey suggested with a thread of hope, "You don't have to say a word. I'll do all the talking. Or I'll shut up for once and you can talk. It can go however you want it to go but...we _should_ talk, Danny...about a lot of things. There's so much you need to know."

Although she could tell by the softening in his countenance that he was being compelled by her argument, Danny resisted yet again by shaking his head and taking several, retreating steps. "I don't think that's a good idea, Lacey," he told her, "I know this is going to sound ironic coming from me but...I'm really not trying to get my heart broken. I've kinda gotten a taste of it already and, frankly, it really sucks." He flashed her a small, sad smile and murmured before turning away altogether, "Who knows? Maybe this is my karma."

Lacey stood and watched helplessly as he walked away. She knew that should have been it. Evidently her avoidance the other night had been the final straw for him. The realization saddened Lacey but it also left her feeling unexplainably infuriated. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more her irritation actually began to take precedence over her hurt.

There were a lot of obstacles that came with wanting Danny Desai. He had the reputation as a heartless playboy, a reputation she knew from personal experience was well earned. He had a substance abuse problem propelled by deep, psychological issues he refused to discuss. His ex-girlfriend was a crazy, embittered piece of work who he might have feelings for, not to mention possibly pregnant with his kid. And, to top it all off, being in company, provoked such wild and unexplainable feelings and visions in her that sometimes she felt like _she_ was the one going crazy. If anyone had earned the right to walk away from this cluster, it was _her_! Yet, _he_ was going to act like _he_ had reached the end of his rope because she hadn't called him? Lacey didn't think so!

With righteous indignation driving her, Lacey stationed herself on a bench just outside the building where Danny's last two classes were being held and waited. She occupied her time by studying for several upcoming quizzes she had and also mentally preparing herself for what she would say to Danny once he emerged. If he wanted this to be it between them, then fine. She'd accept that. But no way in hell was she going to let him have the final word on that. Lacey was practically stewing by the time Danny finally pushed through the doors into the open courtyard where she sat.

He stopped short when he saw her sitting there, stunned into speechlessness. Lacey took advantage of his lack of response and used the time to gather her books and approach him. "You want to be done?" she challenged him brusquely, "Fine. But I get to have my say first."

"Fine," he bit out tersely, "We'll talk in my car."

Lacey jerked a nod of consent and followed him. They walked to the student parking lot without a word spoken between, tension swelling between them like an oppressive, suffocating cloud. Despite their silence, however, both were acutely aware of each other, their bellies churning respectively with a mixture of frustration, confusion and hope.

So heavy had the quiet been between them that Lacey actually jumped when Danny clicked his keyfile to unlock his car doors. The sound seemed to reverberate through the parking lot like a shot. Danny flicked a glance at Lacey, looking at her for the first time since she'd approached him nearly ten minutes earlier. "Get in."

She did as he instructed but then immediately lost her train of thought when he cranked up the car. "Wait. Where are we going?"

"You said you wanted to talk, Lacey," Danny reminded her flatly as he pulled from his parking space, "So talk. I'm listening."

"Tell me where we're going first," she insisted stubbornly. She suspended her hand over the door handle in ominous warning. "I'm not above flinging myself out of this car, Danny."

He bit back an amused smirk. "No need to be dramatic or risk bodily injury. I'm not going to take you to some remote place and murder you if that's what you're freaking out about. Relax," he reassured her in a dry tone, "I just figured we'd need some privacy. Based on the look on your face right now, it's pretty clear you want to give me a piece of your mind. I'm not trying to have an audience for that."

Lacey gradually scooted back into her seat at his explanation and clicked on her seatbelt. "So where are you taking me?"

"There's a park not too far from here. It's pretty quiet around this time of day. You can yell at me all you want."

"I don't want to yell at you, Danny," Lacey muttered in a petulant tone.

He slid her a skeptical, sideways glance. "Is that so? Then what do you want, Lacey?"

"For starters, I want you to get over yourself!"

"Me? I'm the one who needs to get over myself?"

"Yes! _YOU_ , asshole _!_ "

"So _I'm_ the asshole? Hey, I'm not the one sending mixed signals!" he retorted, "That would be your specialty! I've been upfront with you about what I wanted since day one!"

"Are you really this obtuse or are you putting me on right now?"

Danny flicked her with a flinty glare. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"That you are a hot mess and if I had a lick of sense I'd run, not walk, to the nearest exit!"

"Gee, thanks for that, Lace. Please don't censor yourself on my account!"

"You talk about how I've turned your life upside down since you met me, well... You've done a real number on me too, Desai! Knowing you hasn't exactly been a day at the spa! Since I met you I've been all over the place. I'm confused and scared all of the time! I feel like I can't even trust my instincts anymore because every instinct I have is screaming for you! It's crazy!"

"All the more reason for us to be done with each other!"

"Right. Because that's such an _easy_ solution! But, you see, that's the thing," she argued, "As much as I _should_ walk away from you and I've _tried_ to walk away, I don't want to! I still want to have something with you, Danny. I still want you in my life." Those seemed to be the exact words Danny needed to hear. Lacey watched as his anger abruptly seeped from him with her admission, his hands relaxing against the steering wheel. She, however, did not relax nor did her anger with him lessen. "You can wipe that smug expression off of your face! You don't get to act like that's an easy choice for me, like being with you is this uncomplicated thing when it's not!"

"I know that, Lacey. I know."

"Do you know that, Danny? Because you seem really confused about why this might be hard for me!"

"I'm not confused! I get it!" He refrained from saying more as they finally reached their destination. After choosing a spot at the far end of the parking lot which was partially shaded by overhanging trees, Danny cut the ignition to the car and swiveled in his seat to face Lacey completely. "You don't think that I know the chance you're taking by being with me?" he asked her, "I do. I know that from the outside I look like a complete disaster to you and maybe that's true for what's on the inside too but...I was still hoping you'd take a chance on me anyway because... I need that, Lacey. More than you know."

"I'm trying," she whispered, "But sometimes it feels like it's one step forward with you and then ten steps back and I get scared and maybe it seems like I'm sending mixed signals but I'm not trying to do that. Just give me some time to get it straight in my head before you decide I'm a lost cause. I deserve more than that. I've given _you_ more than that."

"You're right," he admitted gruffly, "And I'm sorry. I've just...I've never been very good with being vulnerable or trusting people. I'm used to getting abandoned so I guess I've just come to expect it."

"Yeah, I'm picking up on that. But I'm not walking away, Danny. Just because I hesitate sometimes that doesn't mean I'm done with you."

"Okay."

"Can't you be just a little patient with me while I figure it out?"

"Is that what you need me to do?"

"I need you to understand that I'm making this up as I go. I have no idea what I'm doing with you. All I know is that I don't want to get my heart broken either, Danny."

"Soo...what I'm getting from this is that we're both trying to protect ourselves from getting hurt and basically getting nowhere right now," he surmised with a deep sigh, "Does that sound about right to you?"

"I think so."

Danny closed his eyes briefly as the full weight of the misunderstandings between them settled over him. "Maybe we should start over from the beginning." He pressed back into his seat then and leaned his head into the headrest. "Okay, so tell me why you didn't answer my calls the other night. I'm ready to listen."

"Well, first off...I saw you that day in the diner with Jo. You guys were having lunch together. You looked pretty close and I guess it caught me off guard."

That was the last thing Danny had been expecting to hear and his reaction pretty much spoke to that fact. He balked at her confession and reared upright with an incredulous expression. "What? That's the reason you blew me off? Because you saw me eating lunch with a friend? Are you kidding me?"

"Not just a friend. Your ex- _girlfriend_ who still has feelings for you," Lacey clarified crisply, "Don't act like it's not a big deal."

"It's not!" he retorted, "Regardless of what Jo feels for me, I don't want to be with her like that and I've told you that! We're just rekindling our friendship and that's all."

"That's not what it looked like to me."

"Why the hell didn't you just _ask_ me, Lacey? We could have avoided all of this!" When she had no ready answer for that, he quickly followed up with another question. "And why did it even matter to you in the first place? You said all you wanted from me was friendship. Remember?"

"Yes, I remember! God! Would you stop throwing everything I say to you back in my face?" she snapped peevishly, "It's really obnoxious!"

"I'm just trying to clear here," Danny replied with the first glimmers of a smile, "You say you want to be friends but then when you see me with Jo it obviously bothers you so... I'm not an expert or anything but it actually sounds to me like you were jealous, Lacey."

"No, I wasn't!"

"Yeah, you were," he surmised as his grin spread from ear to ear, "You're jealous. You want me. You really _do_ want me, don't you, Porter?"

She rolled her eyes in snorting exasperation. "Oh, whatever, Danny! Go fuc-,"

Lacey never finished her brassy retort because the remainder of her words abruptly rendered into a breathless gasp by the soft kiss Danny feathered across her lips. At first, she was too stunned by the reality that he had kissed her to react at all but her surprise was quickly swallowed up in the pure euphoric intimacy blooming between them. She was lulled by the excitement and yearning and strange familiarity that existed between them. For a moment, they stared at one another in mutual longing, letting those emotions wash over them, before their eyes sank closed and they leaned into one another once again.

While their first kiss had been tentative and fleeting, their second kiss was much deeper, languid and lingering. Danny framed her face in his hands and slanted his mouth over Lacey's again and again, tenderly coaxing her lips to part for the darting foray of his tongue. He groaned deep in his throat when she tasted him back, shivering anew when he felt her fingers tangling in his hair in a bid to bring him closer, kiss him deeper. They gradually shifted closer as the kiss became more desperate, fitting themselves together despite the awkwardness of the gear shift between. It was only when Danny pressed her back into her seat and began exploring the soft skin of her belly beneath her shirt that Lacey managed to regained her head and remember that they had other issues to address.

She reluctantly tore herself from the kiss with a harsh gasp and pressed her hands into his shoulders to stave him off. "We should probably stop now before things get too out of hand," she advised in a husky tone.

Danny pushed himself off of her with a rumbling groan of disappointment. "Why?"

"Jo. We need to talk about her before this goes any further."

He groaned again. "Lacey, I already told you that nothing is going on with us!"

"And I believe you," she said, "But that's not the point."

"Then what _is_ the point?"

Lacey sucked in a deep, fortifying breath before going straight to the heart of the matter. "That night when you were with Jo...did you use protection?"

Danny did a double-take and favored her with a dubious glower. "What did you just ask me? Are we seriously having this conversation _right now_?"

"Yes, we are! Were you protected?"

"That was six months ago, Lacey! It happened _one_ time!"

"Did you use a condom with her or not?"

Danny flailed around to give her an answer, still confused over why she was questioning him about it in the first place, especially in the wake of the incredible kiss they had just shared. "I...I was drunk that night," he told her finally, "I don't remember a lot of details about what happened but I'm pretty sure that I did." Rather than mollifying her, his answer only seemed to agitate Lacey further which, in turn, agitated Danny. "Listen, Lacey, if this is about you thinking that I'm going to give you something-,"

"-No, Danny-,"

"-what I'm saying is...I've been tested and I'm clean. Besides that, I haven't been with anyone else since you and I were together that night," he confessed softly, "I swear it. I don't want to be with anyone else. I just want you."

"And I want you too," she whispered.

He graced her with a lopsided smile. "Good. Then we're making progress." However, when he started to lean forward to kiss her again, Lacey resolutely skirted out of his reach. "What now?" Danny grunted in exasperation.

"We still have an issue between us, Danny."

It was difficult not to throw up his hands in exasperation at that point. "What issue?"

"Jo," she insisted, " _Jo_ is the issue."

"How is Jo the issue when I've already told you that we're just friends?"

"Has she said anything to you lately?" Lacey wondered, "Or acted any differently than before? Does she...does she _look_ any different to you?"

Danny went quiet and still as a prickle of suspicion and dread suddenly shivered down his back. He turned to regard Lacey with a mildly panicked expression. "Wait. What exactly are you asking me right now, Lace?"

"That night you called me, I went to volunteer at the hospital," Lacey explained thickly, "Jo was there too. I overheard her in the break room with some guy and they were fighting about you knowing some truth. It...it just sounded to me like...well, I kind of got the impression that..."

"Are...are you trying to tell me that Jo is _pregnant_?"

"I don't know. But that's something you need to ask her."

He shook his head as if trying to block out the suggestion. "No. That's not...no! It's not possible."

"Why isn't possible? You just admitted to me not five minutes ago that you're not even sure if you used a condom that night, Danny!"

"I said I don't remember the details! That doesn't automatically mean I might have gotten Jo pregnant!"

" _Something_ is going on with her," Lacey replied, "Something that she is hiding from _you_. It's your responsibility to find out what that something is."

Danny closed his eyes against her words, clearly in denial. "Lacey, are you sure you're not just grasping at straws right now?"

"I'm not," she insisted, "That's the real reason I didn't call you back that night or answer your phone calls. I was hurt and confused when I saw you with her at the diner but it was nothing compared to what I heard that night. Because if she is...if Jo _is_ pregnant...that's going to change everything between us and you know it."

"Stop saying that! She's not pregnant," Danny retorted adamantly, "I don't know what you think you heard but that can't be true."

"So ask her." He averted his face at the counsel but Lacey persisted nonetheless. "You have to ask her, Danny. You and I can't go any further until you know for sure."


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Chapter Twelve**

"Danny, hey! So this is an unexpected surprise."

Jo found herself caught somewhere between unnerved mortification and pure elation when she pulled open her front door and found Danny standing on her front porch. He regarded her with a faint smirk and his trademark relaxed posture but there was something lurking in the depths of his dark eyes that stirred alarm within her. It was quite unusual for him to show up to her house without calling first. Frankly, it was unusual for him to show up at her house at all...or at least it had been for the last six months. His mildly shuttered expression definitely didn't portend good things for his unprecedented visit. Jo swallowed thickly.

"What happened?" she asked anxiously, quickly pulling the door up behind her, "What are you doing here? Is it Tara again?"

He shook his head. "It's not Tara. Not this time, at least. I'm okay."

His reassurance had her wilting back against the door in profound relief. "Good. You had me worried for a second there." She peered at him speculatively, noting that his expression seemed to become even more somber following her words. "So...are you here to see my dad then?"

"Actually, I'm here to talk to you," he said, "Can we go someplace, Jo?"

Jo fidgeted with the request and chaffed her suddenly clammy palms against the legs of her jeans. There was something in his tone that caused the fine hairs on the back of her neck to prickle. "You mean you don't want to talk here?"

"No," he replied, "I don't want to talk here."

She hesitated, looking for a moment like she wanted to refuse his request. Danny held his breath. But after a tense beat of silence, Jo finally jerked a nod of consent. "Sure. Just let me grab my jacket."

Once she was gone, Danny dropped his calm pretense. He prowled the length of the Masterson's covered porch restlessly as he awaited Jo's return. Nearly 24 hours had passed since Lacey's incredible and, frankly, impossible revelation to him and Danny still had absolutely no idea what he was going to say to Jo. Outright accusation seemed premature given the fact that he had little evidence other than a few tidbits Lacey had gleaned secondhand. Besides that, he and Jo were just beginning to take their first tentative steps toward friendship again. Did he really want to blow that all to hell for something that might likely be untrue?

Frankly, if Danny was honest with himself, he didn't want it be true, couldn't even allow himself to imagine the possibility. The ramifications were beyond comprehension for him. Not only because he'd only just passed his nineteenth birthday and was light years away from being ready for parenthood but also because he dreaded the rift a baby would likely cause between him and Lacey.

There was finally some forward movement between the two of them. The previous evening they'd spent together had helped to clear away many of the misconceptions between them. Lacey had even allowed him to drop her off at her home later, which had afforded him with the opportunity to be reintroduced to her mother and sister. And while her sister had seemed more than a little cool and distant towards him and her mother had treated him with little more than polite curiosity, Danny had felt heartened because Lacey had been willing to invite him into her home in the first place. It was a small thing but it was progress.

She had also, after weeks of back and forth, dropped the pretense of wanting to be friends with him only. All doubt had been thoroughly eradicated. Lacey wanted to be with him. She wanted to explore what they could be together just as much as he did. But a baby with Jo... He groaned inwardly at the thought. A baby would definitely be a game changer, not just for him and Lacey but likely him and Jo as well. He imagined he'd have some sort of obligation to the latter even if he wasn't completely sure what that obligation entailed.

The bottom line, however, was that Danny knew that a baby could and would change his life profoundly. He wasn't ready for that. He didn't want it. Which is why it simply couldn't be true, not when he was on the verge of getting the one thing he wanted most.

Danny was still lamenting the possibility when Jo reappeared, bundled in a light jacket with her cell phone in hand. In that moment, it was difficult for Danny not to scrutinize her closely. He scanned the length of her shrouded body meticulously for any clue of what she might be hiding beneath her bulky jacket and baggy jeans. Her manner of dress wasn't any different from what it had always been but Danny knew that wasn't necessarily an indication of anything. If Jo was hiding a pregnancy her typical style would be the perfect means for concealing it.

He had no idea that those thoughts were playing across his features openly until he lifted his eyes and found Jo regarding him with a mildly, horrified expression, her cheeks flushed bright red. "What...what's wrong?" she stammered out meekly, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"How am I looking at you?"

"Like you don't know who I am," she answered slowly.

Danny deftly masked his emotions behind a polite smile. "Sorry. I guess I was lost in thought for a second there," he answered vaguely, "You ready to go?"

She nodded and fell into step with him as they headed towards his car. "I let my parents know that we were going to hang out for a little bit," she told him only to hesitate a moment before climbing into the passenger's side. "Where are we going, Danny?"

He waited for her to snap her seatbelt into place before h replied, "Some place we can be alone. We need to talk, Jo. I thought we could go to the fort. We'll have some privacy there."

"The fort" had served as their private, childhood getaway in their younger years. Whenever home life with Tara became too much for Danny to endure or Jo had some inconsequential fight with her parents, the two of them had sought refuge together in that little makeshift structure out in the woods. It wasn't much too look at and probably wasn't the safest construction imaginable either. It mostly consisted of the remnants of an abandoned car, several boards of sturdy plywood and gnarled trees brimming with hanging overgrowth but for many years in Danny's young life it had felt like a second home.

Yet, in spite of the nostalgia associated with the place, neither Danny nor Jo had been back to the fort since before Danny had been sent away to school. In truth, Jo had all but forgotten about it and imagined that Danny had forgotten as well. So his sudden mention of it, after so many years of silence, left her a little nonplussed.

"The fort?" she snorted, filled with a mixture of intrigue and dread at the news that he wanted to be alone with her, "We haven't been out to the fort since we were ten! Why would you want to go there? It's probably falling apart by now."

Danny flicked her with a brief look before turning his attention back to the road. "That place used to mean a lot to us, remember? That's where we used to tell each other all of our secrets."

Jo shifted in her seat, her lips thinning a bit. "So is that what this is about, Danny?" she asked woodenly, "You have some secret you want to tell me?"

"I told you, I want to talk," Danny said again.

"About what?"

"About what happened between us that night and how we got to this point."

It didn't escape Danny's notice how she stiffened at the mention of it and reflexively fisted her hands against her thighs. "I thought we said everything we needed to say about that," she mumbled, "We agreed to put it behind us."

"No. We've talked around it," Danny clarified, "We've referenced it but we've never really discussed _why_ it happened in the first place and what it changed between us."

"You were drunk and I was desperate," Jo replied with a flippant air, "Isn't that the official narrative?"

"That night is really fuzzy for me. I remember when you kissed me and that I kissed you back. I remember wanting to be with you and feeling like maybe it could work out but not how we got to that point or what was said between us."

Jo turned her face to stare out the window, shielding her expression from his questioning eyes. "Does it really matter now?" she muttered, "It was a long time ago and I'd rather forget it."

"Well, I can't forget it. Hell yes, it matters, Jo!" he retorted sharply, "You didn't talk to me for six months!"

"Because I was hurt."

"I think it was more than that," Danny pressed astutely.

Jo expelled a tired sigh and pinned him with an impatient glare. "Like what, Danny? Spit it out."

"You tell me. What did I say to you that night, Jo?"

"You said a lot of things...most of which you apparently didn't mean."

"What things?"

She threw up her hands in an exasperated gesture. "Why are we doing this?"

"I need to know what happened."

"You talked about how you wanted a real life with a real family and how you felt like you would never have that because you were a screw up and unlovable," she recounted stiffly, "And I told you that wasn't true and that you weren't unlovable at all...that _I_ loved you."

"And I said...?" he pushed softly.

"You told me that I shouldn't love you because you couldn't make me happy the way I deserved, that you couldn't be good for me like I was good for you," she said, "So, I decided to prove to you that you were wrong."

"And you kissed me," Danny recalled as the bleary memory began to take shape in his mind.

"I kissed you," Jo confirmed flatly, "and you kissed me back and, at the time, it felt like I had everything in the world that I could possibly want and then I didn't...and here we are."

Danny swallowed past the lump of guilt that formed in his throat. "I gave you false hope that night."

"No," Jo refuted with a firm shake of her head, "I thought I could give you what you needed and I was wrong. I believed what I wanted to believe." She stared down at her hands and blinked back the blinding tears that began to well in her eyes. "Are you satisfied now?" she asked gruffly, "Does that answer all of your questions, Danny?"

"Not quite," he murmured with chilling calm, "So...just when were you planning to tell me that you were pregnant?"

Jo choked out an embittered laugh. She wasn't surprised by the question but instead was left resolved and exhausted. "I knew it," she grated in a harsh tone, "I knew Archie got to you."

"Archie?" Danny echoed dubiously, "What the hell does he have to do with this?"

She swiveled around to regard him with a dumbfounded blue stare. "You mean he didn't tell you?"

"So, it's true?" he gasped as the full enormity of what she was saying and not saying began to settle over him, "You _are_ pregnant?" She didn't answer him right away but the words proved to be unnecessary. The stricken expression on her face was reply enough. As a nameless panic began to unfurl in his belly, Danny abruptly pulled the car off the road into the service lane, stammering out a string of dismayed expletives as he did so. "This is insane! You've got to be kidding me!" he mumbled again and again, "You've got to be kidding me!"

"If you calm down, I can explain," Jo implored in an agitated rush, "Just breathe and calm down."

"You want me to calm down?" he exploded, "How the hell am I supposed to calm down, Jo? You're pregnant? _You're freaking pregnant?_ Are you sure?"

He felt gut punched when she hiccupped a soft, "Yeah. I'm sure. I had three positive pregnancy tests to prove it."

Danny pressed his forehead into the steering wheel with a low keen of pure grief. "Damn it."

"It's yours if that's what you're wondering right now," Jo informed him with trembling serenity, "I'm about five months along, I guess but that's not exactly accurate since I haven't really seen a doctor." Danny expelled yet another string of muttered curses. "Is that all you have to say?" Jo cried, "Are you really just going to sit there and drop the f bomb all afternoon?"

He lifted his head to regard her with a stunned expression. "What the hell do you want me to say, Jo?"

"Anything. I don't care. Ask me questions! Yell at me if you want but...but stop looking at me like I just destroyed your whole life, okay!"

"I'm not saying you did but that's how it feels!"

"Wow...thanks a lot, Danny!"

"Just tell me why?" he bit out sharply.

"Why am I pregnant? I would think you learned how babies were made in health class, Danny."

"No, I mean why didn't you tell me before now?" he demanded brusquely, "You've had _months_ to say something! Why have you been lying to me this entire time?"

"I haven't been lying to you," she denied weakly.

"Like hell! A lie of omission is still a lie, Jo."

"I wasn't ready to talk about it!" she cried, "Not with you! Not even with my own parents! Up until a couple of months ago I was still in denial about the whole thing!"

"But I guess Archie was a different story, huh?" he snapped in an accusatory tone, "How is it that my so called 'best friend' knew you were pregnant before I did. So what? You two have been keeping this huge secret from me the entire time? What exactly is between you? What else don't I know about?"

"Excuse me? Just what are you accusing me of right now?"

The question triggered an odd vision that assailed Danny without warning. Jo's wrathful face transformed before him into another, a woman with dark hair and dark eyes but with the same expression of tearful betrayal, the same anguish brimming in the stormy depths of her eyes. _Is that what you see?_ Danny shook off the hallucination, a little dazed in the wake of it.

"I'm...I'm not accusing you of anything," he mumbled, "I'm just trying to understand exactly what is going on between you and Archie. Up until this moment, I didn't realize you two even talked to each other much less confided secrets."

"Oh, get over yourself, Danny! You're not the be all and end all. Archie was _there_ for me when I had no one. You don't get to judge that!"

"And you're saying I wasn't for you? I wanted to be! I tried to fix things between us, Jo. _You_ were the one who refused to talk to _me_!"

"You didn't want to fix anything! You wanted absolution! You wanted me to tell you that it was okay that you slept with me and then discarded me so that you could continue living your same playboy life without any consequences!"

"That is _not_ true. I wanted to fix things because you were the most important person to me in the world!"

"No, _you_ are the most important person in your world!"

"If you really believe that then why even bother with me, Jo?"

"Because I keep hoping you'll prove me wrong," she uttered wearily, "I didn't tell you the truth because you weren't ready to hear it then, Danny...anymore than you're ready to hear it now."

"And _you're_ ready?" he challenged, "Jo, come on! I know you don't want to be a parent anymore than I do right now."

"It's too late for an abortion," she informed him flatly, "So if that's where you're going with that argument you can save your breath."

"Why didn't you say something to me sooner?" he lamented, "Why didn't you come to me when we could have fixed this?"

Jo pinned him with a narrowed look. "What makes you think that would have been my choice regardless? You don't have any idea what I want."

Danny shook his head in disbelief. "Jo, I know you better than you think. You want to be a doctor. You've had your entire future mapped out since you were six years old! I know a baby wasn't in your plans! Don't act like you're okay with this."

"But it's _your_ baby, Danny," she whispered, "Did you think that wouldn't mean anything to me?"

He shrank from her admission and the unspoken connotation that accompanied it. "Jo, I can't..."

"You can't what? Take responsibility for your actions? Be a freaking adult and own your mistakes for once?"

"What do you want from me, Jo?"

"I want you to grow up!" she cried, "I want you to be the person I need you to be because... I can't do this by myself, Danny! I thought I could but I can't. I'm scared and I need you to be here for me."

"Can you cut me just a little slack? You need to give me a minute to process here, Jo," Danny pleaded, "You've had months to wrap your head around this and I've had _a freaking day_! My head is spinning! I don't even know what the hell to think right now!"

"How did you even find out anyway?" Jo wondered in a dull tone while Danny quietly fell apart.

He tunneled all ten fingers through his hair in a gesture of frustration. "Does it matter? I know now. Isn't that the point?"

"No, that's not the point at all!" she cried, "Only two people knew about this pregnancy...me and Archie. And if he didn't tell you that means you found out from someone else and, if that's the case, there's the chance of my parents finding out too and I need to do damage control! Who told you?"

Danny bit out another curse. "I forgot about your parents," he groaned, aggrieved, "Your dad is going to slaughter me."

"You?" Jo scoffed, "What about me? I can already hear his speech on how disappointed he is in me. He has all these expectations of me. He's so proud and I get to tell him and my mom that I'm going to be a teen mom. I'm not ready to have that conversation at all."

"Jo, you're already five months along," Danny pointed out softly, "How much longer do you think you're going to be able to hide it from them?"

"I'm not ready for them to know," she persisted stubbornly, "Just tell me who told you so I can figure out how many other people they've blabbed to."

"No one," Danny reassured her, "Your parents won't know until you're ready."

"I'm sorry if that doesn't completely reassure me, Danny. Who told you?" she reiterated more firmly.

There was a long moment of hesitation from Danny before he finally answered with a good deal of reluctance, "Lacey. She told me."

"Lacey?" Jo echoed incredulously, "How would she...?" She trailed off into silence before completing the sentence, suddenly remembering the night Lacey had been standing outside of the break room when she had her argument with Archie. It didn't take much for her to put two and two together after that. She uttered a scathing curse under her breath. "That nosy little sneak."

"She wasn't trying to listen in on your conversation," Danny argued.

Jo scoffed. "You'll have to explain to me how you 'accidentally' eavesdrop on someone's private conversation," she retorted scornfully, "She's a real piece of work!"

"Don't be mad at her," Danny implored.

"And don't defend her to me!" Jo snapped back, "I don't know how you can listen to a word she says after the way she treated you!"

"You've got it all wrong, Jo. She wanted to avoid you. After she saw us together in the diner that day, she got the wrong impression and she was steering clear of us both." Danny let that bit of news sink in before he asked, "Why didn't you tell me that she was there that day?"

He wasn't surprised when her gaze skittered away in guilt. "Why should it have mattered?" she countered, "I thought that day was supposed to be about us, Danny."

"It _was_ about us."

"And yet somehow _she_ keeps coming up. Why is that?"

"Lacey isn't the issue right now. Don't use her to deflect. This is about you and me and all the secrets you've been keeping from me."

"Is that what she told you? That I'm keeping secrets from you?"

"Actually, she told me that I needed to talk to you and find out for sure what was happening."

"And so you know the truth now."

"Yeah, I know."

"So what's next?"

Danny collapsed back into the driver's seat with a defeated sigh. "I wish I knew. I don't know what I'm supposed to do now. Honestly? I'm confused and I'm terrified."

"Well, take what you're feeling right now and magnify it times one hundred and you'll know what I've been feeling this entire time," Jo replied, "It hasn't been easy for me, Danny. Whether you believe it or not, I _did_ want to tell you the truth. I tried over and over but every time I did the words wouldn't come. And then you kept pulling all of those stupid stunts and I didn't know what else to do."

"No wonder you were always on my case about getting my act together."

"You need to do that for yourself but yeah...I'd be lying if I said I didn't want you to do it for me too...and for this baby."

He turned to survey her with a mournful stare. "What can I do, Jo? How can I fix this?"

She surprised them both when she took hold of his hand and brought it against her abdomen, pressing his palm to the gentle swell of her abdomen. It was that moment, feeling the evidence of her pregnancy beneath her rumpled layers of clothing, that made everything glaringly real for Danny. He swallowed thickly, fighting back the urge to snatch his hand away.

Instead, he regarded Jo in an instant of profound silence as she whispered, "You know what you have to do, Danny. You say you want to stop being a screw up? Well, this is your chance. Be the person I need you to be."


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**A/N: Sorry this took so long. Work and snow ate my life this week. Thank you for your patience.  
**

* * *

 **Chapter Thirteen**

Lacey took one look at Danny's unsmiling face and knew instantly that he didn't have good news. He had called ahead of time to let her know that he was on his way but the gravity of his request didn't fully settle on her until she saw his face. Lacey inhaled a fortifying breath and opened her front door wider. "I'm assuming your talk with Jo didn't go quite the way you wanted, huh?"

Rather than addressing Lacey's theory directly, Danny blew out an expansive sigh and said, "We have a lot to talk about. Do you have a minute?" He grunted as Lacey gestured for him to come inside and ten stepped back to let him pass. He took in her nighttime attire of sleep shorts and a spaghetti strap t-shirt and craned a careful glance about his surroundings. "It's not too late, is it?" he asked, as if he expected her mother or sister to come darting down the steps at any moment.

"My family's already asleep," she reassured him, closing the door behind him, "It's just me and you."

Danny pivoted to face her, unsmiling. "Good."

"I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon when you left this afternoon," Lacey commented in a deceptively casual tone, "So what happened?"

He had a difficult time meeting her eyes when he said, "You were right."

"You mean...about..." She petered off into silence as she prepared to say the words aloud. "So, it's true then? She's pregnant."

"Yeah," Danny confirmed gruffly, "She's pregnant. She says she thinks she's about five months along."

The news sent blood rushing through Lacey's ears, consuming her in a low, hissing vacuum of mental chaos. Her breath escaped her in a soft, suspended hiccup. Truly, it wasn't anything she hadn't been expecting to hear. She had spent the better part of her afternoon preparing for it. And yet, hearing the actual words still felt like a physical blow. She was figuratively knocked on her ass. A heavy burden of sorrow and disappointment settled on her shoulders and caused her to slump forward with a tired sigh. But Lacey allowed herself to wallow in self-pity for only a moment before she straightened her back, absorbed the reality and met Danny's eyes once again with steely determination.

"So what are you going to do about it?"

He choked out a mirthless laugh. "I wish I knew."

"Well, you can't just walk away, Danny. That's not even an option! You know that, right?" When he tightened his jaw and didn't answer right away Lacey grew even more agitated. "Danny!" she cried, half admonishing, half incredulous, "This is your child! You can't just pretend like it doesn't exist because being a father is inconvenient for you! That's what my dad did to me and you don't get over that. You carry the rejection with you always! Don't do that to this kid!"

"I know that, okay! I wouldn't walk away! I... I couldn't do that, Lacey. It's just a lot to take in...a lot we don't know right now. Jo hasn't even been to the doctor yet. We have no idea if the baby is healthy or if her pregnancy is normal or...or anything! We have no idea what we're dealing with!"

"Are you thinking the baby might not be yours?" She despised the thread of hope she heard in her words.

Danny shook his head mournfully. "No, it's mine. She was a virgin. I'm the only one she's ever been with."

"Great." She turned away from him then and hugged her middle as if she were in physical pain. After swallowing past the lump that had formed in her throat, Lacey said shakily, "Okay...so you're going to be a dad. Now we know the truth and we gotta deal."

"I guess..."

The uncertainty in his tone caused Lacey to shoot a speculative glance at him over her shoulder. "You guess? What is that supposed to mean?"

"That I only just found out about this whole thing a few hours ago and the only thing I can think about is what this means for us."

Lacey pivoted to face him fully. "For us?"

Danny flinched at her deadened tone. "I need to know if you still want to be with me, Lace. Does this change things between us?"

"I...I don't know, Danny. It's so complicated now."

"Complicated?"

"This is just another problem in a growing list of problems! I thought I was ready to deal with it...that I _could_ deal with it," she emphasized, her voice breaking with emotion, "But when you told me just now, when you _said_ it...it felt like..."

"...Like what?" he pressed, "What did it feel like?"

"Like a betrayal," she replied before rushing to add, "Which I know doesn't make any sense because we barely know each other, Danny. We're not even officially dating yet. What happened with you and Jo went down way before you ever met me. So then why do I feel so furious with you right now...and so hurt?"

"Maybe because we were trying to make something and I screwed it up...just like I screw everything up."

"Danny..."

"I don't want to lose you, Lacey," he blurted out quickly before she could say more, "I know that I'm asking you to swallow a lot at this point...to deal with a lot to be with me but... I'm asking anyway. I want us to be together."

"And what about Jo?"

"What about her?"

"She's having your baby!" Lacey hissed as if the answer should have been readily obvious. "Am I supposed to ignore that? Pretend otherwise? I'm assuming she's past the point of having an abortion now."

"Yeah," he grunted softly, "Not that she would have done it even if she weren't."

Lacey grunted at that. "Maybe that's the real reason she took so long to tell you."

"She's afraid."

"Really?" Lacey scoffed, "Because it seems like the perfect way to trap a boy who doesn't want you."

"You don't know Jo. She's not like that. She doesn't want this anymore than I do."

Lacey grunted her skepticism once more. "So how exactly do you expect that I'm going to fit in to this little scenario?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm only eighteen, Danny. I'm not ready to be somebody's mom."

"I'm not asking you to be!" he flared.

"You don't have to ask!" she flung back just as sharply, "If I'm in your life then I'm in that kid's life too!" She raked him with a frustrated glower before dropping her head forward. "God, Danny!"

He raised his hands, wanting to touch her or comfort her in some way but let them drop before he knew any overture he made would be rejected right then. "What do you want me to do, Lacey?"

"There's nothing you _can_ do," she mumbled.

Danny choked back the whimper that rose in his throat. "So what? You're done with me now?"

Lacey regarded him with mournful eyes. "I wish I could be done with you, Danny."

He stared at her with renewed hope. "Does that mean that you're not?"

"No, I'm not." However, when he started forward with a grateful smile to sweep her into his arms, Lacey staved him off with an aggravated glare. "Don't do that! Don't think you can just pull me close and everything is magically okay! Damn it, Danny, why couldn't you wear a freaking condom? Or, better yet, why did you have to sleep with her at all?"

Her accusations were cutting and Danny flinched with each one. "I was drunk," he whispered, "I know that's no excuse but, it's true."

"Alcohol only lowers your inhibitions," Lacey observed tightly, "It doesn't give you desires that weren't already there. Obviously a part of you wanted to be with Jo, otherwise you wouldn't have gone to bed with her."

"It's not that simple."

Lacey crossed her arms. "Oh, it's not?" she challenged, "Then why don't you explain it to me!"

Danny dragged both hands down his face and began pacing the foyer in small circles. "I haven't had the easiest home life, Lacey. Jo's been there for me through some really rough crap," he explained, "In a lot of ways, she's been the only family I've ever known. She's seen the worst in me and stuck by me regardless. I owe her. She loved me and I guess I wanted to love her back. I wanted to be what she needed and so I tried to be."

"But you couldn't do it," Lacey surmised thickly.

"No. I couldn't."

"So what makes you think it will be any different for us?" she asked, "You think you want me now but what happens in a few months when you realize that you were wrong? You'll walk away and I'll be the one left devastated."

"It's different with you." Lacey scoffed at the explanation, which sounded weak to her ears. "It is!" Danny insisted vehemently, "I knew you were it for me the night we met. The more you talked, the more sure I became. You're what I want, Lacey. And I'm sorry I can't be what _you_ want right now."

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to." Danny spread his arms wide, putting himself on display before her. "This is it, Lace. This is me. A freshman in college who sometimes drinks too much and uses too much, who has no idea what he wants to do with his life and who's going to be a father in a few months. I wish I could give you more than that but this is who I am. And I know that sucks for you but I can't be anything more than this."

"It's not my intention to make you feel like you're lacking somehow."

"But I am," Danny acknowledged, "And I know. But...I can promise that, if you _do_ decide to take a chance with me, I'll do everything in my power to make you happy. I'll take care of you, Lacey. Always."

"Why? Why is it so important?"

"Because...I'm in love with you."

Lacey wasn't at all prepared for the avowal and it showed. She wilted back against the front door as if she'd just had the wind knocked out of her. Her heart pounded in her chest, so rapidly and with such force she feared that she might actually pass out. She covered her mouth with a shaking hand, her eyes filling with disbelieving tears as she regarded him.

"Why...why would you say something like that?" she choked out, "Don't play games with me, Danny!"

"I'm not playing games. I love you, Lacey."

She shook her head in denial. "You can't love me. You don't even know me."

"I know that you're compassionate and stubborn and smart and determined," he said, "I know that you have a secret junk food passion and that when you're stressed you read biographies about ancient Egyptian pharaohs. I know that your sister is your best friend and your greatest enemy and that she and your mom are your entire world. I know that the reason you're so afraid to let me in is because you don't want to take the chance that I'll abandon you...like your father abandoned you."

With each word, Danny progressively chipped away at the protective shell Lacey had erected around her heart. The longer he spoke, his assessment of her so chillingly accurate, the more agitated she because until she was practically hiccupping with quiet sobs by the time he finished. Danny watched her come undone with sympathetic eyes.

"So you see, Lacey..." he continued as he tentatively closed the distance between them, "I _do_ know you. I learn more and more about you every day. And I _do_ love you."

Lacey licked at the tears gathering in the corners of her mouth, hearing his voice echo in her mind as he moved to frame her face in his hands... _I want to give you this life but I won't force you to take it._ She closed her eyes in anticipation of his kiss and didn't resist at all when he pressed his mouth to hers but instead parted her lips for the gentle invasion of his tongue. She bunched her fingers into his shirtfront, pulled him closer and then gave him her tongue as well. He moaned his surprise at her eagerness and then crushed her against him, slanting his mouth over hers in a deep, searching kiss. They melded into each other, clinging to one another as if they could not get enough.

Somehow they ended up against her front door with Lacey pinned between it and Danny's body, her legs wrapped tightly around his waist as he plundered her neck and shoulder with wet, open mouthed kisses. The serrated rasp of their breathing filled the foyer. Danny pushed aside the flimsy strap of her nightshirt, baring a single breast to his eyes and hands before nibbling a warm trail towards her turgid nipple and taking it into his mouth. She cradled her head against him, tunneling her fingers through wavy mop of his hair as he greedily sucked one breast and then the other.

When their mouths met again, Lacey hastily divested Danny of his jacket. It fell to the floor with a muted plop, to be trampled beneath Danny's feet as the kiss between him and Lacey intensified. Lacey swept her hands beneath the soft cotton of his t-shirt, skimming her fingers along the flexing muscles of his back, her nails curling into his flesh when he nipped at her lower lip. They groaned into each other's mouths, their hips undulating rhythmically in a desperate need to get closer. However, when Lacey dipped her hands between their heaving bodies in a search for the waistband of Danny's jeans, he tore away from her with a regretful moan.

Startled and unsteady, Lacey stared at him with glazed, confused eyes. "What's wrong? Why did you stop?" She didn't need to ask if he wanted her. The evidence of that was blatantly visible. She took a step towards him, her gaze seductive when she whispered, "We can go to my room."

Danny ducked his head in chagrin and struggled to slow his harsh breathing. It was difficult for him to look at her directly, especially when she was disheveled, half-naked and full of unabashed wanting for him. His erection throbbed in angry protest. "We should probably cool it. I don't have anything with me," he explained gruffly, "I didn't come here with the expectation for any of this."

"Oh..." Lacey replied, knowing that his answer was a good thing but filled with disappointment nonetheless. "We definitely don't want any more surprise pregnancies on our hands."

"Exactly. Besides," Danny continued, "I don't want our first time together to be against your front door or a quickie in your bedroom with your mom and sister sleeping down the hall. You deserve more than that, Lacey."

Lacey bit back a smile, hoping to conceal how endeared she was by his sincerity. "But this wouldn't be our first time, Danny," she reminded him wryly.

"It's our first time as a couple," he replied softly, "And this is the first time I've ever been in love. You mean a lot to me and I want to do this right."

"You're really serious about this, aren't you?"

"Very serious."

"And you mean it?" Lacey prompted in wonder, "You love me?"

He reached out to caress her chin briefly. "I mean it."

"I knew too, you know," she whispered, "That night we met...I knew that you were special. I knew it the minute I laid eyes on you."

"Yeah, because you thought you knew me from somewhere," Danny recalled with a light laugh.

"I did," Lacey blurted before she could think better of it.

Danny reared back with a puzzled frown. "What? So...so are you saying that we _did_ meet before?"

Realizing belatedly how incredibly insane her theory would sound to him, Lacey quickly attempted to backtrack and retract her words. "Nothing. Just forget about it. Pretend I didn't say anything."

"No," he pressed gently when she tried to close off from him, "You're saying we knew each other? Where? How?"

"You're going to think it sounds crazy..." Lacey prefaced self-consciously.

"Try me."

"Okay then," she replied, meeting his eyes squarely as she continued, "What do you think of past lives?"

Danny blinked at her owlishly. "Past lives? What about them?"

"Do you believe in them?"

He failed at suppressing his dubious snort. "Are you serious?"

Lacey's expression became stony at the question. "You see? I told you that you'd think it was crazy. Let's just drop it."

Danny lightly grabbed hold of her waist when she would have pushed past him. "No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he soothed, "I didn't mean to laugh. Tell me. I'm listening."

She stiffened against his attempt at cajolery. "I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"Lacey, please," he entreated softly, "You asked me if I believed in past lives. I don't know if I do or not." He turned her around in his arms and searched her features earnestly. "Do you?" She didn't answer the question directly but the way her eyes skittered away made Danny press her further. "Tell me," he urged, "Why are you asking?"

After a lengthy pause of silence Lacey finally asked with some reluctance, "Do you remember that day in class when I fainted?" Danny nodded slowly. "I had this weird vision that day. I saw you," she revealed tremulously, "We were running. There were soldiers chasing us and they wanted us dead. I could feel my heart pumping so hard as we ran. I kept losing your hand and just the thought of being separated from you terrified me.

"It was like this movie playing in my head only it _felt_ real. And you were with me, Danny...only it wasn't you...at least not like I know you today. He looked like you and felt like you and I was drawn to him like I'm drawn to you right now. It was almost like a memory."

"A memory."

"Like what I saw could have happened to me in another life."

Danny fell back a step, his expression dazed and stricken. "Were there other times?"

"Other times?"

"When you had these 'visions,'" Danny clarified fervidly.

"A few times," Lacey admitted, "Even tonight, while we were standing here. It felt like we've had this conversation before. Or...or at least some variation of it." When he said nothing in response to that but instead continued to stare at her as if she'd grown a second head, Lacey expelled a disgusted sigh. "Great. Now you think I'm crazy."

"No, I don't," he whispered, "These 'visions'...these memories you've been having...I've seen them too, Lacey."

She pinned him with an incredulous look. "You have?"

He nodded and took a faltering step towards her. "Does the name Suhad mean anything to you?"

Just as Lacey started to reveal to him that he had once called her by that name, Danny's ringtone began to blare obnoxiously from his back pocket. He and Lacey traded annoyed glances. "You should get that," she advised when he made no move to answer, "It's almost 12 o'clock in the morning. Whoever is calling must really need to talk to you."

Danny pulled out his phone and checked the caller I.D. "It's Jo."

"Yeah. I figured."

Lacey couldn't help feeling a little bitter over his torn expression. Danny must have sensed that because he said, "I can let it go to voice mail."

He had no sooner finished making the offer than the ringing stopped. But, just as he started to pocket his phone again, it began ringing anew. Lacey rolled her eyes. "Wow. She must really be pressed."

"She can wait. We were in the middle of something here, Lace."

"Just get it," she insisted impatiently, "We both know she'll keep calling otherwise."

The shared a lingering look before Danny finally answered the call. "What is it, Jo?" He turned his back for some semblance of privacy though he was acutely aware that Lacey was listening to every word.

"I told my parents and it was a disaster!" she wept brokenly, "My dad went ballistic! He stormed out of the house just now when he found out it was you! I think he's looking for you, Danny, and I don't know what he'll do!"

"It's okay. It'll be okay," he reassured her, "I'm not at home right now anyway."

"You didn't see his face. I've never seen him so furious in my life. I think he hates me."

"He doesn't hate you, Jo."

"And my mom," she sobbed, "She was just going on and on about what a disappointment I was! I had to get out of there. I'm at the diner right now. Do you think you could come and pick me up? I don't have anywhere else to go, Danny."

"Yeah...yeah. I'll be right there. Just sit tight." When he ended the call, Danny turned back to face Lacey with a measure of dread. "I have to go now."

"I heard. Your baby mama calls. I guess this is how it's going to be from now on."

"Don't be like that, Lacey."

"It's true, isn't it?"

"You don't understand. She just told her parents about the baby and they're freaking out. It's only a matter of time before my dad knows too. I need to do damage control."

Lacey relaxed her militant stance, feeling her anger deflate from her just as quickly as it flared. "I know. I get it. I'm just frustrated. That's all."

"I understand. I still want to finish our conversation though," he said, "I want to hear about these other 'visions' you've had."

"Maybe they're nothing," Lacey sighed dismissively, "Maybe I'm nuts after all."

"Well, if you are then so am I. If we're both seeing this stuff then it has to mean something...right?" They regarded one another in pregnant silence before Danny asked rather timidly, "So, are we good? Can I call you later?"

She rolled her lips inward to keep from smiling at the boyish appeal in his tone. "If by 'later' you mean tomorrow, then yes. You can call me. After you leave, I'm heading to bed though."

"Okay. I'll talk to you tomorrow then." Danny leaned forward to peck a quick kiss on her lips. "I love you."

Lacey bit her tongue against saying the words back to him and replied with a fervent, "Drive safe," instead. Once she finished shutting the front door behind him, Lacey was only half surprised to find her sister sitting on the fifth step and regarding her with a solemn expression. "I see you've taken up shameless eavesdropping now," she commented lightly, "Good to know."

Clara shrugged and leveled her with a meaningful look. "Hmm...must be a family trait. I learned from the master."

"What do you want, Clara?" Lacey demanded with a weary sigh, "Spit it out. I'm tired and I want to go to bed."

"I guess all that passionate making out really takes it out of a girl."

"Ugh! You've been sitting there the whole time?"

"No! I went back to my room! I'd rather gauge out my own eyes than watch you two suck face!"

"Then what are you doing down here?"

"I'm not going to lecture you," Clara prefaced mildly, "You've already made it perfectly clear that you're not going to listen to a word I have to say."

Satisfied, Lacey started to climb past her on her way to her bedroom. "I'm happy to hear that. Good night."

"I just have one question."

Lacey paused on the step with a dramatic eye roll. "And what's that?"

Clara swiveled around with a look of pure concern. "Are you sure you know what you're doing, Lacey? Cause it seems like to me that you're taking on a lot to be with this guy. Is he really worth it?"

It was a loaded question but when Lacey thought back to the discoveries she had made that night and when she considered the possibility that she and Danny might share something more profound than she could have ever imagined, she arrived at her answer with stunning simplicity. "Yeah, Clara. He is."


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**A/N: This chapter was a pain in the butt to write.**

* * *

 **Chapter Fourteen**

Danny slowly pulled his car into the wide, circle driveway of his looming estate and heaved a breath filled with dread. He and Jo had driven the last twenty minutes in silence because he had been mentally preparing himself for the confrontation he knew awaited him at home. Unfortunately, twenty minutes hadn't been nearly enough time to prepare. The last thing he wanted was to exit his vehicle and walk into that house. His reluctance to do so couldn't have been made more clear than when he cut the ignition but then made no move to unclip his seatbelt. Noting his sudden inertia, Jo began to fidget in the passenger's seat.

"Maybe it won't be so bad," she mumbled lamely.

His response to that was a short, embittered laugh. "Are you kidding me? In a few minutes I'm about to prove right every horrible thing Tara has ever said about me...that I'm stupid and irresponsible!"

"I don't think that."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Oh, I think we both know that you do...otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation more than five months after the fact."

Though his tone was mostly free of accusation but was, instead, filled with caustic self-reprisal, Jo dropped her head forward in guilty mortification nonetheless. "I'm sorry I put you in this position, Danny."

He glanced over at her with a remote expression. "It's not your fault. Maybe if you'd thought you could depend on me more, none of this would have happened. We _both_ did this."

"Don't pretend like I haven't made a bad situation even worse. It's not like you weren't already dealing with enough tension at home and now this..." Danny made no more to deny her assumption or condemn her. Yet, his attempt to remain neutral through his silence only managed to sharpen Jo's guilt rather than alleviate it. "God, what a mess!"

"Tell me about it."

"Maybe we're being too pessimistic about this whole thing," she threw out somewhat desperately, "Maybe it's possible that my dad hasn't even been here yet..."

Danny's lips twisted in a mirthless smile. "You said he tore out of the house with the full intention of confronting me. I think the possibility that he didn't come here and give my family an earful is slim to none." He groaned inwardly when he pictured the scene in his mind. "I can't imagine what he must think of me right now." Of all the people in the world who's opinion of him truly mattered to Danny, Kyle Masterson was near the top of that list. The idea that he might have lost the man's respect and friendship was actually pretty devastating.

Jo did what she could to soothe him. She reached across the expanse to awkwardly rub Danny shoulder. "Don't worry about my dad. He'll get over it. He just needs some time."

He covered her hand briefly before shrugging off her touch altogether. "Yeah right, Jo. I knocked up his little girl and then left her to deal with the whole thing on her own. I don't know how you get over something like that. I wouldn't blame him if he thought I was scum. That's how I feel."

"That's not true," Jo argued, " _I'm_ the one who decided not to tell you, Danny. You didn't know."

"And we both know why you didn't tell me. Because you didn't think I was grown up enough to handle it...while, apparently, _Archie_ was." Jo groaned at the mention of Danny's estranged best friend, who had been a sore subject between them ever since Danny had learned of her pregnancy. "I still don't understand why you had an easier time confiding in him, of all people, rather than me. How did that even happen? You two are barely even friends."

"He was the first person I ran into after I knew for sure," Jo mumbled vaguely, turning her face towards the window so he wouldn't note the unease in her eyes, "It was a fluke more than anything else."

"So he's known for a while then," Danny deduced, his jaw tightening considerably, "Really since the beginning, huh?"

Jo swiveled around in her seat to face him. "Please don't take that it like that, Danny," she pleaded a little wildly, "Be pissed off at me right now. Not Archie. I couldn't take it if I screwed up one more thing for you. Archie didn't tell you because I asked him not to tell you. He was respecting my wishes. That's all. It wasn't some slight against you."

"It doesn't matter," Danny bit out, "After five freaking months, he should have said something to me...given me the heads up or something! I can't get over the fact that he didn't. It makes me wonder what else he might be keeping from me."

His words caused Jo to drop her eyes and fidget anew. She was grateful for the dimness within the interior of the car because Danny couldn't see how deeply her face had reddened at that moment. "You're acting like you don't trust him anymore," she mumbled thickly.

"I'm not sure if I do."

Jo groaned anew. "What are you saying?"

"I guess I'm really questioning my friendship with him right now."

Shocked by his reply, Jo's blue eyes ricocheted to his face once more. "And what about me? Do you still trust me? Are you questioning your friendship with me? After all, I'm the one who lied."

"I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt," he sighed in response, "But it's hard, especially when I think about how long you've known about this. You pushed me away for months, Jo! The more I think about it, the more it feels like you were doing it deliberately."

"Maybe it _was_ a little deliberate. But I was scared. I still am."

"So what guarantee do I have that you're not going to lie to me again or omit something else I should know just because you're scared?"

Jo's brows snapped together in offended outrage when she detected the thread of self-righteousness in his tone. It was easier to hide behind her anger than confront the true reason for her mounting guilt. "Oh, get off your high horse, Danny! I'm the one who's pregnant! _I'm_ going through this. _My_ life is changing! _My_ body is changing! Who are you to judge my choices?"

" _I'm_ the one you lied to!" Danny retorted as his latent anger over the situation began to assert itself, "You didn't even come to me with the truth, Jo. I had to hear it from someone else! I had to confront you, Jo! Were you ever going to tell me?"

"Of...of course," she stumbled, "It's not like my pregnancy was going to be a secret forever. I _was_ going to tell you...when I got brave enough." Danny jerked a nod of acceptance to that though his expression remained less than convinced. "You believe me, don't you?"

Hesitancy and mistrust were plain on his face when he said, "I'm trying to."

Jo attempted yet again to reassure him. "I promise from this point forward, there won't be any lies between us, Danny."

Danny surveyed her with a long, penetrating look before he inclined his head in agreement. "Good," he said, "And in the spirit of honesty, I guess it's only fair that I give you the same courtesy."

There was something in his tone that made her instantly apprehensive. Jo favored him with a puzzled look. "What are you talking about?"

Fully recognizing that he was about to make an already tense situation even _more_ tense, Danny swallowed and gripped the steering wheel tightly as he carefully planned his next words to her. "There's something I need to tell you," he prefaced gently, "Something about me and Lacey."

Jo stiffened at the mere mention of her. "Why are you bringing her up right now?"

"You should know that she and I are together now."

Predictably, she stiffened even more, her lips becoming an almost imperceptible line. Her countenance hardened into a stony mask with his words. "Why are you telling me this?" she demanded tightly.

"I thought you should hear it directly from me."

"What happened to the two of you just being friends?"

"Things changed."

Jo emitted a scoffing sound under her breath. "I should have known! So that's where you were tonight," she surmised in an embittered tone, "You were screwing her! Do you ever not think with your dick, Danny?"

"Stop jumping to conclusions! That's not what happened! I was with her tonight but...we weren't having sex. It's not just about that with Lacey. I care about her." His voice lowered an octave as he added tremulously, "I love her. This is real for me, Jo."

She whimpered as if he had just punched her. "You love her?"

Danny jerked a quick nod, guilt eating away at him like acid as he took in the unabashed devastation in her expression. "Listen, I know that's not what you want to hear. I know how you feel about me, Jo, and that you were hoping for more with us but..."

"I...I just don't get it," she uttered thickly, "You don't do love, Danny. That's the whole reason we're in the situation to begin with! How are you saying you're in love with her? She's practically a stranger to you!"

"She doesn't feel like a stranger. She's important to me."

"Are you kidding me? So _now_ you want to give long-term commitment a try...when you're expecting a kid with another woman? God, Danny! Don't you think you have bigger things to focus on?"

"If you think that what I have with Lacey is going to distract me from my responsibilities to the baby, I promise you it's not," Danny replied fervidly, "I'm going to take care of you, Jo...you and the baby both."

"Yeah, right. Who do you think you're talking to? I know you. You're going to be so far up Lacey Porter's ass you're going to forget I exist! I might as well prepare myself to raise this baby on my own."

"No! You don't have to do that."

"Why don't you just cut the crap and say it? I'm on my own, aren't I?"

"Jo, you know that's not true. This doesn't have to change anything."

She shot him a disappointed glare. "Do you hear yourself right now? We're having a baby, Danny! Did you ever stop to think that this might not be the best time to start up a new romance? I understand that Lacey is important to you but nothing should be more important than our baby! If you don't get that-,"

"-I didn't plan any of this!" he volleyed back, "Give me a break, Jo! I'm doing the best I can! I wasn't trying to fall in love with Lacey. It just happened but I'm not sorry that it did! It feels right. For the first time in my life I have something that feels good and right and I don't want to let that go. Don't ask me to do that, Jo."

"Just tell me one thing," Jo pressed in a tone thickened by hurt, "Why couldn't it feel right with us? What is it about Lacey Porter that makes her so easy to love, Danny? What did she do that I didn't? What does she give you that I can't? I don't understand."

"Don't do that. Please don't turn it into a competition between the two of you. I love you both...just in different ways."

"Fabulous. That definitely lessens the sting of your rejection."

"Stop it," he admonished softly, "We're still friends and nothing is going to change that, Jo. We made a baby together. We're always going to be a part of each other but...I'm trying to be honest with you. You need to know where you stand. That way there won't be any more misunderstandings between us."

"Did you have this same conversation with Lacey?" Jo challenged, "Does she understand that our baby has to come first? I won't accept anything less, Danny."

"Yeah. She understands."

"Then fine," Jo snapped coolly, "That's enough then. You're with her. I don't like it and I don't like her but it is what it is. Let's just drop the whole thing. We have more important things to focus on right now."

"You're mad," Danny concluded with a disheartened sigh.

"I'm more hurt than anything. But don't worry," she added before he could begin spilling forth reassurances, "I'll get over it. I learned a long time ago that loving you is a pretty hopeless effort. This isn't anything new. What's important is that you love our baby. The rest of it doesn't matter."

Danny jerked a nod of agreement and then added when she fell into brooding silence, "I still want you to stay here until things calm down with your folks. Lepa will set you up with a room."

Jo shook her head in tight-lipped refusal. "It's not a good idea. I can find someplace else to go."

"Like where?" Danny challenged, "Stop being so stubborn! It's just a temporary fix until we figure out what comes next."

"And what does your _girlfriend_ think about that?" Jo bit out snidely, "I can't imagine she'll be thrilled by the idea of us living together."

"I...I haven't talked to her about it yet," he stammered, "But Lacey knows the situation. I'm sure she'll understand."

"Oh really?" Jo averred, "Then she must be a saint. I'm not so sure _I_ would."

Danny nibbled at his lower lip as he contemplated the veiled warning in Jo's reply. He fully recognized that he would be asking Lacey to swallow a great deal, even more than she already had but he didn't know what else he could do. He had an obligation to Jo and their child and, as much as he wished it weren't so, this was his new reality. He had a responsibility to them both but hadn't quite navigated how to fulfill his obligation to one without hurting the other. Danny was just beginning to realize that he had a near impossible task ahead of him...that of keeping both Lacey _and_ Jo happy with their current situation without compromising himself along the way. He had absolutely no idea how he was supposed to accomplish such a thing either. His biggest fear was that, despite all his best efforts, he might end up losing them both regardless.

Rather than dwelling on that depressing fact, however, Danny instead kept his attention focused on the most immediate crisis...facing his father. He glanced back at the house and, after what seemed like an indeterminable passage of time, Danny finally reached down to release his seatbelt. "Come on," he urged Jo grimly, "We might as well get this over with."

He had a rather tentative plan in place of having Jo wait for him in the living room while he confronted his father on his own but that was all shot to hell the second he and Jo cleared the front door. Danny was ill prepared to have both his father and aunt bearing down on him before he even had a moment to collect his thoughts together. Noting the thunderous expressions on both his father and aunt's faces, Danny gathered Jo behind him in a reflexive, protective gesture as Tara snapped, "So nice of you to finally join us, Daniel! You have lot of explaining to do!"

Ignoring her completely, Danny turned his attention towards his father and said in a hushed tone, "Could we talk for a minute? There's something I need to tell you."

Yet again, Tara inserted herself into the conversation before Vikram could make a response at all. "You can stop being so vague! Both Vikram and I are very well aware of what you need to discuss," she bit out tersely, "No doubt you expect him to fix this latest mess you've created for yourself just as he always does and I will tell you right now...that is _not_ going to happen!"

Danny fixed her with a warning glower. "You know what? This actually has nothing to do with you, Tara, so I'd appreciate it if you would stay out of it!"

Not surprisingly, his father finally found his voice with Danny's harsh reply. "Daniel, calm down! Don't speak to her that way," Vikram admonished sharply, "It isn't fair for you to take your poor decision making out on Tara."

"But this isn't about her," Danny insisted in a low tone, "I need to talk to you...just you, Dad."

"Are you going to tell me what I already know?" his father challenged softly, "That you're going to be a father?" He hitched his chin towards a cowering Jo. "Kyle Masterson was already here and gave me an earful. I can only assume that all of his wild accusations were true if you brought Jo home with you."

"You can't possibly think that she can stay here," Tara added nastily.

"Actually, I do," Danny countered in a brusque tone, "Jo is my guest."

"Absolutely not! Send her back to her parents and let them deal with her! This isn't a halfway house, Daniel. Why should we be punished for her inability to use birth control?"

Pushed past the limits of his patience, Danny fairly snarled at her. "Actually, if anyone is going to leave this house, it's going to be you, Tara! In fact, why the hell are you still here? Get out!"

Tara threw an aghast glance over at her brother. "Vikram! Are you truly going to let him talk to me this way?"

"Enough!" Vikram bellowed, "I am so sick of the petty squabbling between the two of you! We have more pressing matters to deal with!"

Danny huffed out an infuriated breath. "It's not 'squabbling,' Dad. Tara is an abusive bully and I'm not swallowing another second of it! I certainly won't have her around my kid! She needs to get out of this house now!"

"Calm down. No one is leaving," Vikram declared before Tara could make her sharpened retort, "The last thing you want to do right now is alienate your family, Danny! Stop it! Everyone's emotions are high right now, given the circumstances. We all need to sit down and decide what our next course of action should be."

"Fine," Danny agreed tersely, "Can we discuss it without her though?"

"Tara is my sister, Daniel, and your aunt. We're family and this is a time when you need the support of your family," Vikram replied, "Besides your actions don't just affect you...this affects our _entire_ family. You can't blame Tara for being angry and disappointed in you."

"Yeah, because Tara cares so much about what I do with my life," Danny drawled out sarcastically.

Tara emitted a scathing snort. "Are you really so obtuse as to not recognize the vulnerable position in which you've placed this family? Do you know what you're going to do to our name? Our reputation?" She turned her flinty stare towards Jo. "What exactly are you after, little girl? Money? Power? Just exactly what do you imagine you will gain by that bastard you're carrying?"

"Shut your mouth!" Danny snapped, shocking his father, Jo and Tara with his sudden, snarling vehemence, "You don't talk to her! You don't weigh in on this at all! This is between me and Jo and no one else!"

Vikram sought to diffuse the situation by interjecting in a mild and cajoling tone, "Daniel, think about what you are facing at this moment. You are a nineteen year old college student with no marketable skills and a substance abuse problem-,"

"-Oh, good grief, Dad-,"

"-Do you really think that you're prepared to bring a child into this world and raise it on your own?" Vikram finished doggedly.

"Well, it's a little too late to debate that subject," Danny bit out caustically, "Jo is too far along in her pregnancy. This baby is coming whether I'm ready for it or not."

"So what are you planning to do? Is she going to live here now? Are you going to marry her?"

"I'll let you know when you're ready to have a private conversation about it," Danny retorted, "In the meantime, it's late and Jo and I have had a long day. I'm going to have Lepa set her up in one of the guest bedrooms and then I'm going to bed."

He grabbed hold of Jo's hand and started to stalk past his father entirely, in clear indication that the conversation was over when Vikram demanded in exasperation, "What are you doing? Where are you going, Danny? Daniel? Daniel Aran Desai, don't you walk away from me!"

Danny didn't even look back when he made his reply. "I already told you! It's late and I'm tired!"

"That's all you're going to say?" his father demanded, dogging Danny's every step, "Damn it, Danny, I deserve more explanation than this!" When that didn't slow Danny's gait one iota, he added rather desperately, "How do you even know this child is yours?"

While nothing else had shaken Danny's focus, that question captured his attention with stunning alacrity. He froze mid-step and slowly pivoted back to face his father, his features a frozen mask of rage. But while Vikram was singularly focused on his infuriated son, Tara couldn't help but notice how Jo visibly paled with the question. Her features were chalk white, her lips trembling visibly. Tara keenly kept her eyes trained on the mortified young blonde while Danny closed the distance between him and his father and grated through clenched teeth, "What did you just say? God, Dad! You've known her practically her entire life! How could you ask something like that?"

Vikram threw an apologetic glance over at Jo before he addressed his son again. "I'm not trying to be insulting but the question is a valid one. Until tonight, I never knew that you had any romantic interest in Jo at all. This has all come about very suddenly."

"The baby is mine," Danny uttered coldly.

"Then Jo Marie shouldn't have an issue with submitting to a paternity test, should she?"

Danny clenched his fists in restrained anger. "That's not necessary. I can't believe you would even suggest it!"

Rather than addressing Danny, Vikram tipped a glance around his son at a stricken Jo and asked softly, "Is he right, Jo? Is a paternity test unnecessary?"

"Yes...yes sir," she stammered thickly, "I understand that you're confused right now. You're right when you say that Danny doesn't have any romantic interest in me. We made a stupid mistake and now we're trying to deal with the consequences."

"You'll forgive me for being skeptical," Vikram said, "I didn't know what else to think, especially because you've kept your condition a secret for so long."

"I was afraid to say anything and I know that was wrong," Jo acknowledged, "But I love your son, Mr. Desai. I wouldn't do anything to hurt him. All I've ever wanted was to make him happy."

Tara brought her hands together in mock applause. "Bravo. Rendering him an unemployed, teenage father appears to be a fantastic start."

Danny whipped to face her with weary apathy. "That's enough out of you! You don't get to say another word about her or our baby," he told her, "I'll tolerate you being in this house _for now_ because that's what my father wants but you'd better steer clear of me from now on."

"Is that some kind of threat?" Tara challenged.

"You push me and I'll push you back, Tara," Danny warned ominously, "Stay away from us. I mean it." He started to push past her then, deliberately jostling her aside as he did so. Incensed by his boldness, Tara started to raise her hand to backhand him for his insolence. She quickly emitted a startled yelp, however, when Danny easily caught hold of her wrist in a vise grip, surprising both her and his father with his methodically cold response.

"Don't ever try that again," he warned her as he flung her hand away, "You will _never_ touch me again. Things are going to change around here, Tara. You should prepare yourself for that."

"Oh, nephew," Tara chided under her breath, watching with narrowed eyes as he walked away, "Perhaps _you're_ the one who should be prepared."


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**A/N: Sorry this took so long. I'm having some personal issues right now. I haven't forgotten this story. I'm not putting it on hiatus but updates won't be too frequent. Sorry again.**

* * *

 **Chapter Fifteen**

"You asked her to do what?"

Lacey had known the instant Danny had quietly requested that she step out onto the front porch with him rather than coming inside to be officially introduced to her mother that something bad was about to happen. However, it was easy to be disarmed by the charming picture he presented when she opened her front door and found him standing on her front porch with a covered dish in one hand and a bouquet of flowers in the other. Danny had pleasantly surprised her not only by showing up twenty minutes early but also because he had actually _dressed_ for dinner.

Rather than the relaxed fit blue jeans and soft Henley she had been expecting, Danny wore dark, pressed slacks instead and a pristine white shirt with a tie. His shoes had been buffed to a high gleam and his long, tousled hair was tucked in a neat bun. Even the small, silver hoop that usually graced the upper part of his ear was conspicuously absent. Lacey had been so shocked by his appearance that, at first, she could do little more than stand there and smile at him in disbelief. She couldn't even process that he was holding the flowers out for her until he said quietly, "These are for you."

Once it completely dawned on her the lengths to which he had gone to impress her family, Lacey Porter was absolutely certain that she was falling in love with Danny Desai. She buried her face in the fragrant bouquet in order to hide her trembling smile. Her emotions were overwhelming yet she still wasn't anywhere close to being ready to confess the words aloud but it was happening whether she wanted it to or not. Fear continued to render her tentative and wary. However, it was impossible not to be endeared by his earnest efforts to impress her family and how seriously he had obviously taken her invitation to dinner. She had thought to reward his hard work with a kiss but he had asked her to come outside instead.

What she had anticipated would lead to ardent make session out had ended in a heated argument instead. Presently, Lacey was glad she had decided to keep her avowals of love to herself. Now, she wondered if Danny's appearance, the flowers and the dessert had merely been a ploy, a means of manipulating her into a good mood so that he could deliver his bombshell...that he and Jo Masterson were living together. Lacey was so sure that was the case that she charged him of doing so outright.

Danny cringed at the accusation and quickly scrambled to clarify himself. "That wasn't my intention at all! I honestly want to make a good impression on your family tonight, Lacey!"

"And you think you can do that by asking your _pregnant ex-girlfriend to live with you_?" she exploded, tossing aside the flowers that had meant so much to her a few minutes earlier, "What the hell is wrong with you, Danny?"

"Hear me out before you jump to conclusions!" he pleaded, "It's not how you're making it sound! We're not living together! She's only been there for a couple of days. It's a temporary arrangement. She's only staying there until things calm down with her parents and, after that, she's going back home. It's not a big deal."

Lacey made a face at him and proceeded to tick off on her fingers all the reasons why it _was_ a big deal. "She's sleeping down the hall from you. You have breakfast together and dinner together. You talk to her about your day and vice versa! Hell, you probably ride in to school together at this point!" Danny didn't answer but the guilty skittering of his eyes was more than sufficient. Lacey clenched her fists, stamping down the urge to smack him senseless. She began pacing in a futile effort to control her temper. "Damn you, Danny!"

"Stop it. You're getting worked up over nothing. Jo and I have had this kind of relationship for years! It's not anything new!"

She whirled on him with an infuriated glower. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

Danny set aside his dish on the glass and iron side table that decorated the Porter porch and turned to face Lacey with an entreating expression. "Listen to me. Her parents are furious with her, not just because of the baby but because she lied to them for so long," he said, "She doesn't feel like she has anyone. I couldn't turn my back on her."

However, Lacey was clearly unmoved by his explanation and her reply to him confirmed that in spades. "Shall I play her a song on the world's tiniest violin?"

"Lacey, come on!" Danny huffed in exasperation, "All that stress can't possibly be good for the baby. What else was I supposed to do?"

"Put her up in a hotel?" Lacey suggested tartly, "Direct her to a friend's house? Encourage her to work things out with her parents? Seems like you had a lot of other options you decided not to choose, Danny!"

He winced at her obvious fury. "Be reasonable," Danny implored softly, "I got her pregnant. How would you want to be treated if you were in her position?"

Her expression became shuttered by anger and guilt. Lacey crossed her arms defensively. "Don't you dare ask me to sympathize with her!"

Danny dropped his head forward with an aggravated groan. "I knew it would be like this. This is exactly why I waited so long to tell you."

"Because you knew I'd be furious...like any _normal_ girl in my position would be?"

"Because I knew you would take it out of context," Danny clarified heavily, "Jo is one of my best friends, Lacey. I've known her my whole life. She's practically my sister!"

"Obviously not so much if you slept with her!"

"Once! It happened _one_ time and I completely regret it!"

"So what? All it took was that _one_ time for you to make a baby with her!"

"I know that! Will you stop throwing it in my face?"

Lacey stared at him with glittering eyes. "Do you honestly expect me to be okay with this, Danny?"

He was silent for a long time before he answered her. "No. I don't expect you to be okay with it but... I don't love her, Lacey. I love _you_...more than I thought I could love anyone. I don't want to lose you over this. Please tell me that I'm not going to lose you."

"You don't get to ask me that right now."

"I'm helping her out but that's all it is. There's nothing romantic happening between us."

"Does she know that?"

"Yes!" Danny replied vehemently, "I already told her about us and...how I feel about you. She gets it."

Lacey scoffed to herself. "Well that explains why she's been such a bitch to me at the hospital lately. I'm surprised she didn't blab her new living arrangements the second she got the chance, just to throw it in my face."

"Because I asked her not to," he stressed in a quiet tone, "I wanted to be the one to tell you."

"And you decided to do that _tonight_? Thirty minutes before you're supposed to sit down with my family for dinner and I introduce you to _my mother_ as my boyfriend? If I was a psych major I'd think you were trying to sabotage us on purpose."

His reaction to that was swift and immediate. "I'm not trying to sabotage us! Why would you think that? All I want is to do the right thing...for you and for Jo."

"I don't know if you can do that, Danny...because this..." she gestured between them with a tormented expression, "...it hurts too bad."

He regarded her with dark eyes brimming with contrition. "I don't want to hurt you, Lace. But...I didn't want to be a good father. I want to do what's right for this baby."

"That's great, Danny," Lacey returned softly, "But where exactly does that leave me? I don't know if I can handle all of this."

She looked so devastated and confused that it was hard for Danny not to step forward and take her in his arms but, he suspected if he tried Lacey might actually punch him. He could feel her pulling away from him even as he did everything he could to keep her close. "So what exactly are you saying right now, Lacey?" he began in a shaky tone, "Do you want to break up?"

Lacey lost the opportunity to answer that question because Clara chose that exact moment to burst out onto the porch. "I'm starving!" she announced, momentarily oblivious to the suffocating tension between Danny and Lacey, "You two will have plenty of time to make out after dinner!" However, Clara's good-natured teasing was instantly dispelled when she spied the tight, gloomy expressions on both Lacey and Danny's faces. She let the screen door clack shut in the resounding silence. After spying the abandoned bouquet and taking one look at Danny's guilty face, Clara easily assimilated that something bad had gone down. She plunked her hands on her hips and groaned inwardly.

"Okay, what's going on?" she asked her sister in a deadpan drawl, "Did he knock up another girl?"

Danny flinched at the questions while Lacey quickly turned aside to conceal her brimming tears. "Go away, Clara," she mumbled, "This is none of your business."

"It is if he made you cry," Clara argued stubbornly. She pinned Danny with a surly glare that clearly promised bodily harm. "What did you do now, asshole?"

Lacey whirled to face her with glittering eyes. "Clara, stop it!"

"No! I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what happened!"

After making a concerted effort to compose herself, Lacey regarded her with a grim expression. "That's just thing, Clara," she uttered in a deceptively calm tone, "He didn't do anything wrong. In fact, he's trying to do everything _right_. And that's the problem really...because I don't know where I fit in to this whole thing."

"With me," Danny answered softly, "You fit in with me, Lace. Just give it a little time and everything will calm down."

She shook her head, as if it was impossible for her to put any faith in his promise. "In a 'little time' you'll be a dad, Danny. This is just the beginning and I'm not sure I can handle it."

"Lacey, please don't give up on me," he pleaded, "I promise that I'll fix everything."

Before Danny could prepare himself, Clara smacked him in his the shoulder with brutal force. "Back off, you douche bag! Don't pressure her!"

"I'm not trying to do that," Danny burst out defensively, "But I love her! All I want to do is make her happy."

Lacey groaned his name in longsuffering while Clara did a double-take. "Wait a minute," Clara interrupted, gaping at Danny in disbelief, "You love her?" She swung an incredulous glance around at her sister. "He _loves_ you? You guys are in love? When did this happen? Lacey, you never said a word!"

"God, Clara, will you go away?" Lacey groaned in exasperation.

"I'm just trying to be clear about everything. So this isn't just a casual dating thing with him? You guys are really serious about each other?"

Danny leveled Lacey with a penetrating look before he answered rather deliberately, "I'm serious about her. I'm still trying to figure out what Lacey wants."

Before Lacey could admonish him for the unfairness of his statement, Clara declared in a matter-of-fact tone, "She wants you. Though God knows I can't figure out why with all the baggage you carry." Lacey wailed her name in mortification but Clara wasn't shamed in the least. She shrugged her shoulders without a hint of embarrassment. "What? Why are you groaning like that? It's true and you know it."

Lacey buried her face in her hands. "This really doesn't have anything to do with you so could you please go now?"

"Nope, actually I can't," Clara replied unapologetically, "Because I'm hungry and your drama is prolonging that fact. So fix it so I can eat dinner already!"

"Actually, there's nothing to fix," Lacey sighed, "Danny and I are fine, Clara. We're just having a disagreement. That's all."

"About what?" Clara demanded.

Calmed by Lacey's reply to her sister, Danny managed to find his voice enough to reply to Clara, "Actually that's between Lacey and me," only to add nervously when Clara shot him a disintegrating look, "...with...with all due respect, of course."

Clara closed the distance between them and jabbed her finger into the center of his chest. She was, at least, six inches shorter than him and Danny was sure he outweighed her by a good fifty pounds but, in that moment, Clara Porter absolutely terrified him. She tipped back her head to regard him with narrow eyes, impervious to her older sister's humiliated squealing. "Listen up, dude, my sister is really into you so for that reason alone I'll try to refrain from putting my foot in your ass but, if you hurt her, I'm going to find you and I'm going to hurt you back. I'm going to hurt you bad. Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"

Danny cleared his throat and bobbed an accommodating nod. "Yes. I understand. I swear to you, I don't want to hurt Lacey." He looked over at the aforementioned and he added softly, "I told you. I love her."

"Good," Clara replied, taking a definitive step back, "You can spare me the ooey-gooey details. Knowing you love her is enough and, therefore, you and I shouldn't have any problems. Now that we've finally straightened all of that out, let's go eat!"

Dinner, unfortunately, proved to be an awkward affair. While Lacey proved to be almost uncharacteristically quiet during the meal, Danny spent most of his time making stilted small talk with her mother and fending off inappropriate comments from her sister. Judy, for the most part, was kind and gracious, careful not to press Danny with too many probing questions even while it was clear that she as anxious to discover the exact nature of his relationship with her daughter. It did not escape Danny's attention at all that when Lacey had introduced him to Judy she had referred to him as her "friend" and not her "boyfriend." He tried not to read too much into the action even as he realized it wasn't a good sign of things to come.

Still, Danny did his best to charm her mother. He encouraged Judy's questions and did his best to answer them honestly even when his answers didn't always paint him in a favorable light. He was also equally honest about his feelings for Lacey and how much her presence in his life had affected him. He did his best to prove to Judy Porter that while he might not be the ideal choice for her daughter he would never give her anything less than the love and respect she deserved which, in the end, was Judy's greatest concern. By the time they had finished dessert not only had Judy decided that she liked Danny Desai after all but he had also managed to win Clara's grudging respect as well.

Later, after Judy and Clara had said their goodbyes, Lacey escorted Danny outside with the intention of walking him to his car. The tension between them remained thick and suffocating and left Danny feeling rather dejected despite the semi-success of dinner. He couldn't forget that Lacey had left his earlier question to her when they had been on the porch unanswered. He couldn't help but wonder if that had been a deliberate move on her part. The question continued to circulate in his brain as they walked toward his car and, when Lacey made no move to break the uncomfortable silence between them, Danny decided to take on the task himself.

"So," he began, turning towards her when they finally reached the curb, "dinner wasn't a complete disaster, don't you think?"

Lacey shrugged. "It could have been worse," she agreed, "I'll talk to Clara tonight though. She was a complete brat to you and it was uncalled for."

"No. She was fine. She loves you. We have that in common."

She dropped her head forward, suppressing the groan that rose in her throat with his words. "Danny, don't."

"Why not? It's true."

Lacey pinned him with an irritated look. "You know it's not that simple."

"It doesn't have to be complicated either," he argued.

She arched a brow. "Really? You knocked up your best friend and she's currently living with you. I'd say that's pretty complicated."

"It's not like I wanted any of this to happen."

"And yet that fact doesn't change a thing. You're still having a baby with Jo. You two have created this whole quasi-normal family and I'm not sure where I fit in."

"With me."

Lacey jerked her head aside in unspoken disagreement. "Maybe this is all bad timing," she considered, more to herself than to Danny. However, he responded as if she had directed the statement at him.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you're having a baby," Lacey fired back tartly, "and maybe you need to be focused on that rather than on whatever this is that's happening between us."

Danny's jaw tightened. "I thought what was happening between us was that we were falling in love," he insisted stubbornly.

Lacey crossed her arms. "I never said that," she replied with equal stubbornness.

If she expected Danny to be cowed by her acrid response Lacey was sadly disappointed. In fact, to her everlasting aggravation, he actually smiled. "Lacey, you don't have to say the words," he whispered, "Your actions speak loud enough."

"I hate you." In that moment, she meant the words utterly but, infuriatingly, Danny contradicted that statement as well.

"No, you don't," he refuted quietly, "You just wish you did."

"You're right! I do! Am I supposed to accept the fact that you're living with your ex-girlfriend with a smile on my face?"

"She's not my ex-girlfriend!"

"Does it matter? You have a history with her! You're protective of her! You _love_ her! What am I supposed to do with that, Danny?"

"Do you just want me to turn my back on her? Pretend I'm not having a kid with her? Damn it, Lacey, what the hell do you want me to do?"

"Don't try to make me into the bad guy!" she screamed.

"That's not what I'm doing!" he screamed back, "But it sounds like you're saying that we can't be together if Jo is in my life and you have to realize that's an impossible thing you're asking of me!"

"I'm not saying that. I'm saying that we can't be together. Period."

Danny stumbled back a step. "What?"

"You need to focus on Jo and the baby and you need to be able to do that without feeling guilty. And I need to be free of all this resentment I feel for you...and for her."

"What does that mean? You're saying you want to break up?"

"I'm saying I _need_ to break up," she countered thickly, "Just when I think I have a grip on what it takes to be with you, you go and up the ante and this is too much. I don't want to end up hating you and I don't want you to hate me. It's the best thing for us both."

Danny shook his head several times, struggling to process what she was saying to him even as her words made that absolutely clear. "I don't understand. I thought you wanted us to be together."

"I do. But you're asking me to accept a lot and I don't think it's unfair to say that I can't do that. It's too much that you're asking, Danny."

He grimaced, trying desperately to maintain his composure against the urge to cry. Still, his voice broke when he said, "If I could change all of this, I would..."

"...But you can't," Lacey finished for him, "Like I said before, it's just bad timing for us."

"Not for me. You came into my life right on time...right when I thought I didn't have anything worthwhile going on for me at all. For me, the timing couldn't have been better. We came together at the perfect time, Lacey. It's like it was meant to happen."

Her resolute expression faltered a bit and she ducked her head. "You know I feel the same."

Danny felt like shaking her right then and the urge was plainly evident in his next seething words to her. "Then why are you doing this? It's ridiculous and wrong!"

Pushed past the limits of her own patience, Lacey seethed back, "It is not ridiculous and wrong! Reality is telling me that I'm about to take a big gamble that might not be worth it!"

He stumbled back a step, glaring at her with glistening eyes. "You're saying I'm not worth it...that _we're_ not worth it?"

The hoarse, hurt quality in his tone had Lacey faltering once more. She took a moment to compose herself and swallow back a fresh onslaught of tears before she continued. "Listen to me, Danny...I'm not the only worthwhile thing in your life. You have your baby. You should focus on that."

"So I'm just supposed to forget us...what we share and...the incredible connection that's between us? Lacey, you know it's deeper than that. I can't just walk away from us. Can you?"

Lacey backed up several steps, adding validity to her next words as she took the slow, plodding journey back towards her house. "I guess I'll have to find a way to do it. It's not like I have any other choice."


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Chapter Sixteen**

"Making yourself comfortable, I see."

Jo stiffened reflexively at the sound of Tara Desai's deceptively cordial greeting. Even with her back turned she could sense the menacing coolness that laced the older woman's words. Determined to mask her unease, however, she calmly finished folding her clothing and tucked it away in a drawer before turning to face Tara. She wasn't surprised to find Danny's aunt leaning casually in the frame of her doorway, her dark, shrewd eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Unfortunately, the shrewd expression on her face wasn't nearly as unnerving as to Jo as her deliberate silence and, inevitably, that was the thing that broke her composure.

"Can I help you with something?" she snapped finally. She turned to resume her previous task. "You're staring at me and hovering in my doorway. It's creepy."

"I suppose I'm simply in awe," Tara drawled in return, "I was certain that there was no one better at manipulating a situation to my advantage than me but you've gone and proven me wrong, Ms. Masterson." She brought her hands together in mock applause. "Well done."

Jo grimaced. "Am I supposed to know what you're talking about right now."

"I think you know _exactly_ what I'm talking about."

She hadn't thought that it was possible for her back to become anymore rigid than it already was but, in that moment, her muscles tensed and contracted so fiercely that Jo felt physical pain. She gripped the t-shirt in her hands with white-knuckled intensity but refused to give into the impulse to meet Tara Desai's knowing stare. That would be the final insult. She knew that if she met Tara's eyes she would be completely defenseless against the woman.

This confrontation had been building for an entire week now. Jo had sensed something brewing beneath the service with every word and gesture Tara Desai paid to her. She hadn't been at all oblivious to the calculating looks Danny's aunt had been shooting her way since Danny had announced her as his extended houseguest. Tara made no secret of the fact that she was in disagreement with that decision nor did she pretend to be impressed with Jo in general. Tara seemed to have distrusted her from the very beginning. Sometimes it felt as if Tara was staring past the exterior of her skin straight into her treacherous heart and the mere possibility left her feeling uneasy and paranoid.

Of course, Tara Desai didn't know anything about her or her motivations. Jo forced herself to examine the situation logically. Tara was barely aware of her own nephew so the possibility she could have even an inkling about Jo seemed ridiculous. She was merely a hateful, spiteful woman who took pleasure in unnerving others. She was a bully and a bitch and the only reason she had targeted Jo was because she felt Jo was infringing upon her territory. She felt threatened and that was all. At least that was the thing that Jo told herself again and again as Tara Desai continued to watch her like a predatory hawk. Unfortunately, that denial provided little comfort to her, especially with her nemesis standing less than ten feet behind her, surveying her in the dissecting manner that she usually did.

Still, through a feat of pure will, Jo managed to hold on to her unaffected facade when she said, "Actually, no...I don't know what you're talking about. Furthermore, you and I are nothing alike so I don't really know what you're getting at."

She cringed inwardly when Tara's mirthless chuckle sounded behind her. "Oh, on the contrary," she drawled, "You and I have much more in common than you imagine."

"I don't think so," Jo bit back defensively, "And I'd really appreciate it if you left my room. If Danny found out you were harassing that would be all he'd need to hear before he threw you out on your ass. I wouldn't push my luck if I were you."

Unbelievably, Tara barked a short, unthreatened laugh at the prospect. "I don't believe Daniel will ask me to leave at all," she countered, "In fact, I suspect that I may even become one of his most trusted confidantes. Perhaps he will even decide to leave the company directly to me when the time comes."

Jo snorted and tossed a dubious glance over her shoulder. "Danny despises you. You're out of your mind if you think there's even a chance in hell of that happening."

"Oh, I know it will happen," Tara replied, and the harsh expectation in her voice caused dread and apprehension to spill through Jo even before she finished with, "There's absolutely no reason why it can't happen because... _you're_ going to see to it that it does."

Balking inwardly at the mere suggestion, Jo blanched and dropped the shirt in her hands before whirling to face Tara completely. "Like I said before...you're out of your mind! Why would I ever help you?"

"Because helping me helps you."

"Helps me to do what?" Jo scoffed in aggravation.

"Helps you to keep Danny," Tara replied smoothly, "After all, isn't that the entire reason you're trying to pass this brat off as his?"

Jo imagined that every drop of color very likely drained from her features with Tara's statement. Somehow, however, she managed to keep her features calm and remote even as her stomach began churning violently. She had been living in dread of the accusation for weeks now but she had imagined that, if and when the time came, _Danny_ would be the one confronting her and not his cruelly maniacal aunt. And, now that it was happening, Jo felt the weight of every bad decision she'd made for the past six months settle heavily on her shoulders.

She had been stressed to her breaking point recently. She didn't need Tara Desai breathing down her neck on top of everything else. Her relationship with her parents, more specifically her father, remained incredibly strained. Kyle Masterson looked at her as if she was a stranger these days. He never failed to express to Jo how hurt and disappointed he was. She didn't know if he was having harder time forgiving her for the lying or for the fact she had "been so stupid" to have gotten pregnant at all.

Her mother definitely wasn't any help. If anything she helped to pile on the guilt, almost too eager to remind Jo how she had tarnished every aspiration her father had held for her. For Tess Masterson, Jo's lapse in judgment seemed to provide her with the ammunition to prove what she had been stressing to Jo's father's for years...that Jo wasn't nearly as perfect as he believed. Jo could almost believe her mother was even _happy_ about the whole thing...

And, as if the rift between she and her parents weren't strain enough, Archie Yates would not stop hounding her. Their sexual relationship had begun while she was feeling rejected by Danny and thoroughly unloved by everyone around her. At the time, he had been the only person to truly see her without placing undue expectations. He wanted her simply for her. She didn't have to fit into any sort of mold. He loved her as is.

The intimacy between them had continued unabated until Jo discovered she was pregnant. Even then she hadn't harbored a single doubt over the father's identity. She and Danny had protected sex a single time while she and Archie had been together multiple times and sometimes without the barrier of a condom. She had known from the very start but her desire for Danny and her deep-seeded hope that he would one day come to want her as she wanted him prevented her from owning the truth.

Despite Archie's insistence on firmly determining paternity through a DNA test, Jo had put him off again and again, leading him to believe that she had been pregnant _before_ they began having sex. Even with her denials, Archie remained adamant about wanting to be in her life. He was earnest in his pursuit, assuring her that he would have no qualms against raising Danny's child as his own. Part of Jo wanted to accept his offer, to explore the future they could possibly have together. Unfortunately, a larger part of her, the part that had been growing since she was a little girl, continued to long for Danny. Jo wanted him above all else.

And now it finally seemed that she was close to realizing that desire. Danny's relationship with Lacey was over and the implication seemed that might be a permanent thing. In addition to that, lately Danny had been taking a more active and interested role in fatherhood. He had even taken her shopping at the local _Babiesrus_ to prepare for the baby's arrival. Later, when she asked him why he had done it he had said it was because he wanted them to be a true family...he wanted their child to have the family that he hadn't while growing up. The fact that he was making such a concerted effort to push past his pain over the loss of Lacey only built up Jo's confidence all the more.

Finally, Jo felt as if everything she had been yearning for since she was ten years old was finally within her grasp. To have Tara Desai imply that she knew her secret when she was so close absolutely shook the foundation of Jo's world. She might have burst into tears right then and there if she didn't know that show of emotion would only confirm Tara's suspicions.

She really had no other option than to bluff her way out of the situation. She had too much at stake to watch it all go to hell now. The truth was a luxury Jo could not afford and she certainly didn't want to make herself beholden to Tara Desai. Her situation was precarious enough already.

With that determination in mind, Jo gave a defiant toss of her head and regarded Tara with the most uninterested expression she could conjure. "What are you doing right now?" she asked with dripping disdain, "Are you so bored with your own life that you have to make up stories about mine? It's kind of pathetic."

Unfortunately, to her everlasting disappointment, Tara wasn't cowed by her words at all. Instead, she responded with a sharp burst of laughter, almost as if she were genuinely amused. "It's hardly a 'story,' my dear. This is quite a dangerous game you're playing at the moment. Are you sure you can win?"

Jo stiffened her back. "Again...I have no idea what you're talking about."

Tara smiled. "And again...I know that you're lying."

For the second time since Tara Desai had materialized at the threshold of her bedroom door Jo felt her carefully constructed composure slip yet another inch. Her palms became warm and clammy. Her breath hitched with inhale. For that split second, she was emotionally defenseless but only that second. She had too much at stake to allow her shock and fear to linger any longer than that. So, she quickly masked her anxiety behind an inscrutable countenance before presenting Tara with her back in a gesture of supreme dismissal. She tried to cover the violent shaking in her hands by resuming her earlier task of folding clothes.

"Just so you know, I have every intention of telling Danny about this," she warned Tara, "He won't be happy to hear you've been harassing me."

"I also doubt he'll be happy to learn you're attempting to pass off another man's child as his own," Tara countered smoothly, "Which do you think is the lesser of two evils?"

Jo whirled to face her again, her features pink with wrath. "You're sick! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I'm not the one who created this situation, Ms. Masterson. You have only yourself to blame."

"Shut you stupid mouth! You don't know what you're talking about! And I guarantee you that if you try to go to Danny with that lie, he will throw you out so fast your ass won't even touch the pavement! He'll never believe you so I don't know what you're trying to do here."

Tara grunted a mirthless chuckle. "Exactly what do you take me for?" she considered softly, "I'm not a fool. I am well aware that there's no love lost between my nephew and I. Nothing I say would hold any weight with him." She gradually closed the distance between them as she continued in a tone that was almost too casual, "Now Vikram, on the other hand, my dear, sweet baby brother...he hangs onto my every word. What do you think he would do if I put the idea in his head that you were trying to make a fool of his only son?"

"You're bluffing."

"Care to risk it? After all, if you're right and I'm wrong then I am sure you won't have any issues with submitting to a paternity test."

Jo managed a rough, painful swallow before dropping her facade of indifference entirely. She regarded Tara with wary blue eyes. "What do you want from me?"

"I don't want anything from _you_ , Ms. Masterson. You're merely a game piece in all of this. I want something from Daniel," Tara clarified, "and you're going to help me get it."

"You're insane."

"I'm practical. I could care less if you pass off your bastard as his...as long as I get mine."

"So you're trying to turn this situation to your advantage, is that it?" Her acrimony and hatred towards Tara Desai only increased when the woman lifted her shoulders in an impenitent shrug. Truly, it was her unrelenting arrogance that fueled Jo's frustrated anger even more. "And what if you are wrong?" Jo bluffed, "Not only will you forever alienate Danny but his father as well. Mr. Desai will never trust you again."

"I'm willing to risk it," Tara replied, unruffled. She appraised Jo with a speculative once-over. "Are you?"

Jo nibbled her lip in uncertainty. She wanted to call Tara Desai's bluff and consign her directly to hell but, conversely, she was acutely aware of the precarious position in which she had been placed. She didn't have very much leverage. Antagonizing her enemy probably wouldn't be the wisest choice right then. She thought that if she couldn't intimidate Tara out of her intentions, perhaps she could instead appeal to the woman's conscience.

"This wasn't something I planned," Jo argued softly, "I never told Danny he was the father. He just assumed."

"And you didn't bother to correct him."

"It's complicated."

"Ms. Masterson, I could seriously care less."

"But you don't understand. If he knew the truth...I don't think he'd ever get over it!"

"Not my concern."

Even while it was becoming increasingly clear that she wasn't going to be successful in swaying Tara, Jo still couldn't bring herself to acquiesce completely. "Then what is the point of all this?" she cried wildly, "You do understand that Danny hates your guts, right? You won't be happy until he hates mine too?"

That accusation elicited yet another unaffected shrug from Tara. "I don't want Daniel to hate you. I want you to convince him that he shouldn't hate me."

Jo choked out a disbelieving grunt of laughter. "What?"

"Convince Daniel that his opinion of me has been misguided...encourage him to trust me."

"You're out of your mind!"

"You keep saying that, Ms. Masterson but, is it truly insanity to know what you want and go after it? After all, aren't you doing the same thing?"

"Why do you even care how Danny feels about you?" Jo demanded with a grimace, "Why now? You certainly never gave a damn before."

"It's simple. I want what is rightfully mine and you're going to help me get it."

"You want his inheritance," Jo surmised with an aghast breath.

"I want his inheritance. Every bit of it. And you're going to convince him to give it to me."

Jo shook her head, firmly refuting that statement. "That is never going to happen. Danny doesn't trust you. He doesn't even like you. How am I supposed to change that?"

"That's something for you to figure out."

"It's impossible!" Jo cried in exasperation, "You've heaped years of verbal abuse on him! I can't just say, 'Danny, why don't you fix things with your aunt' and expect him to agree! That's crazy!"

"I'm sure you'll figure out something," Tara countered smoothly, "It's not really my problem."

"You're asking for the impossible."

"Then I suppose you need to find a way to make the _im_ possible possible or I will blow your life to hell without batting an eyelash."

Jo shuddered. "Why would you even think that I would be able to change his mind about you? What gives me so much power to undo the damage you've done?"

"Because he trusts you. He listens to you. He wants to make you happy," Tara concluded simply, "So use that to your advantage...to _my_ advantage. Get him to sign it all over to me and you can have the family with him that you seem to want so badly."

"What if I decide to tell him the truth?" Jo challenged.

Tara smirked. "Go right ahead. But you've already lost so many people you love, Ms. Masterson. Do you really want to add Daniel to that list?"

Feeling the corner that she had been boxed into grow smaller and smaller with each subsequent second, Jo attempted one last show of bravado. "You heard Danny the other night. He doesn't want a paternity test. He believes this baby is his. He wants it."

"Imagine how devastated he will be to learn that isn't true?" Tara mused in hanging threat.

"You don't have a shred of proof! It's your word against mine and Danny will never believe you!"

"But he does believe his father," Tara reminded her, "If I make Vikram doubt you then it will only be a matter of time before he influences Daniel to do the same. You know very well how much my nephew idolizes his father. He'll will feel so betrayed to discover you lied to him about something so incredible. I'm sure he'll want to know who the father is as well." She watched carefully as Jo flinched in reaction to that consideration. Tara smiled. "Something tells me that you don't want him to know about that either."

As her meticulously constructed house of cards began to collapse all around her, Jo finally gave into the tears that had been threatening since the moment Tara Desai revealed she knew her secret. She faced the other women with glistening eyes, wringing her hands together in nervous appeal. "Please don't tell him the truth," she begged, "He's all I have left now and I need him. I _love_ him."

"Then you do what needs to be done and it will work out."

"I can't," she wept, "I can't manipulate him that way."

"Unfortunately, you only have two options, Ms. Masterson. But in one scenario, you will most unequivocally lose my nephew. Is that what you want?"

"I don't want any of this!"

Tara leaned in closer to whisper near her ear, "This doesn't have to be a difficult decision. We can _both_ benefit."

"How do I know you won't hurt Danny like you have in the past?"

"All I want is the company."

Jo regarded her with wet, wary eyes. "How am I supposed to trust you?"

"What other choice do you have?" She watched as Jo's expressive blue eyes wavered with fear and indecision before she added, "Help me get what I want and I will help you get what you want. It's a fair deal, I'd say. So why don't you think about it and get back to me."

Tara exited then, leaving Jo trembling just as violently as she had been when she'd first arrived.


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Chapter Seventeen**

At the urgent knock on his office door, Kyle Masterson lifted his eyes from the account statements on his desk. However, his brows drew together into a deep scowl of displeasure when he discovered exactly who had come to visit. Danny Desai leaned haphazardly in the threshold, his expression a mixture of regret, shame and boyish pleading. He appeared weary, disheveled, as if the weight of the world had settled upon his shoulders. Kyle, unfortunately, was wholly unaffected by his pathetic condition. He was simmering with too much anger to feel any pity at all.

His jaw tightened as he regarded the younger man. "So...you've finally worked up the nerve to face me. I have to say I'm surprised. I was beginning to think you wouldn't."

"Is...is that a good thing?" Danny mumbled in uncertainty.

"It's ballsy," Kyle replied with narrowed eyes, "But I wouldn't necessarily call it a _wise_ choice. Not right now, Danny."

Danny bowed his head in chastised humility as he stumbled his way inside the neatly arranged office. When he spoke, his words were slow and deliberate and possessed the distinctive slur of one well past the point of inebriation. "I had to come here. I...I know you don't want to see me but I had to come." He swayed unsteadily as he added, "We gotta talk."

"If this is about the embezzlement, I haven't looked into it any further." He flicked a derisive glance in Danny's direction. "I've had other things on my mind."

"I didn't come here to talk about that. I thought we should talk about the baby."

In that moment Kyle didn't know whether to snort with ironic laughter or dismiss him altogether. In the end, he did both. "I don't think so. We're not having this discussion right now, especially now when it's clear that you're drunk off your ass!"

"No! No! I'm not drunk!" Danny denied stridently, only to ruin the veracity of the proclamation by weaving precariously as he approached Kyle's desk. "I just had a couple of beers...and maybe a few shots...that's all..."

"A few shots? My God! You're underage! Does that even matter to you?" Kyle snapped, "Is this the best you can do, Danny?"

Danny spread his arms wide in helpless appeal. "I was scared. I just...I needed the courage, you know...to face you."

"You mean because you knocked up my daughter? Yeah, I can understand why you'd be apprehensive."

"I know you're pissed off right now..."

Danny reached for the back of a nearby chair but his uncoordinated effort had him almost toppling to the ground. Kyle shot up from his desk haphazardly and caught Danny before he could fall over. Only when he was sure that Danny was steady on his feet did he release him. It was at that moment that he became fully cognizant of the aroma of bourbon rolling off of Danny in waves.

"A few shots, my ass," he muttered under his breath, "For God's sake, Danny! Did you drive yourself here?"

Mildly offended by the accusation in his tone, Danny drew himself up in a huff. "No! I'm not stupid. I had my dad's driver bring me here."

"And he had nothing to say about the state you're in."

"No one ever says anything about what I do," Danny replied almost sadly, "I do what I want."

"Yes, I'm very well aware." Shaking his head in mounting disgust, Kyle resumed his post behind his desk. "Well, you should call the driver and have him take you back home. We're done here."

"Not until we talk first."

"I have nothing to say, especially when you're in this condition. Just go."

"Jo had her ultrasound yesterday morning," he blurted suddenly. Kyle stilled but did not speak and did not make eye contact. "It looks like we're having a little girl in case you wanna know."

Kyle closed his eyes as he absorbed that news with a deep, serrated sigh. "God help you if anyone ever does to her what you did to mine," he muttered.

"I'm sorry," Danny half sobbed, "I didn't want it to turn out like this. I...I...I just want to fix it!"

"You can't! So let it go. You can't talk your way out of this one. You ruined my daughter's life and you ruined your own! That's the end of it."

"I don't believe that. Jo's life isn't ruined. It doesn't have to be. I'm going to take care of her...and..and the baby. I'm going to be there for them both."

Kyle bit out an acerbic. "Take care of her? Are you kidding me? You can't even take care of yourself, Danny! You're a spoiled, punk kid and you don't take the time to think before you act and I'm done with you. Get the hell out of my office! Now! Before I call security and have you thrown out!"

"You can't throw me out. Technically, this is _my_ office and you work for me," Danny argued, his drunken state loosening his tongue and causing him to speak thoughtlessly, "So you gotta talk to me. I'm _ordering_ you to talk to me."

It wasn't the most prudent stance to take and that became blazingly apparent with Kyle's immediate reaction. He regarded Danny with a expression full of cool challenge, his eyes narrowed and dangerous. "How many times would this make you being publicly intoxicated? Do you want to police to show up here? Is that what you want? Do you want this to become a scene?" Danny gave a slight shake of his head. "Then get out," Kyle finished tersely. He returned to his attention to his previous work then, making his dismissal complete.

Still, even with the threat of a possible arrest looming, Danny continued to hover helplessly before his desk. Though he felt overwhelmed and thoroughly disheartened by the depth of Kyle Masterson's disdain and disgust for him, he was unable to walk away. There was too much at stake. What Kyle thought of him hardly mattered. Jo was his only concern right then.

Danny shoved his hands into his pockets and stared down at Kyle with dark, imploring eyes. "Listen to me, please...I know I messed up," he muttered gruffly, "I know you hate me and you should. Believe it or not, I hate me too. But you have to give me a chance to make it right. I owe that to Jo."

Kyle cut him a scathing glance. "And you think showing up at my office after you've spent the day swimming in bourbon is going to help you do that?"

"I didn't come here for me," Danny said, "What you think of me doesn't matter. I came here for her."

Masterson's eyebrows snapped together in annoyance. "For Jo? She asked you to come."

"No. I came on my own. She'd be furious if she knew I did."

"So then maybe you should leave."

"Not until you remember that you have a daughter and act like it!"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. You need to step up and be a father! Jo doesn't deserve to have you cut her out of your life. You can't punish her like this because she made a mistake!"

The chastisement in Danny's tone did little more than incur Kyle's exasperated eye roll. "If you think I'm going to discuss this with you then you're drunker than I first thought," he grunted, "Go home, Danny."

"No." That time, however, Kyle did not acknowledge him but instead returned to his work as if Danny hadn't spoken at once. The silence thickened in suffocating measures before Danny finally worked up the courage to speak again. "She wasn't trying to make a fool of you," he told Kyle softly, "She was alone and she was scared and so she lied."

"And why was she alone, Danny?" Kyle bit out accusingly, "Who left her _pregnant_ and alone?"

"I'm not saying I didn't make mistakes too."

Dragging both hands down his face with a frustrated groan, Kyle fixed Danny with an impatient glare. "What do you imagine confronting me like this is going to accomplish?"

Danny flinched, pained that he felt compelled to even ask the question. "I don't want you to hate her."

"I don't hate her. She's my daughter. All I've ever wanted for her was the best."

"So do I."

"You have a peculiar way of showing it."

"If I had known she was pregnant I would-,"

Kyle glowered at him with glacial eyes. "You would have done what exactly?" he snapped, "What the hell are you doing now for that matter?"

Danny opened his mouth to answer only to find that he didn't have a response. Kyle Masterson was right about him and he knew it. He was very well aware that providing Jo with a place to live, accompanying her to the obstetrician and taking her shopping for baby items was a far cry from what she actually needed from him. It sure as hell wasn't what she wanted from him either. She wanted a real family and a real life with Danny. Unfortunately, those things were well beyond his power to give her. Even if he weren't still hopelessly in love with Lacey wasn't in a mental space to form emotional attachments of any kind. He was barely keeping his head above water.

Since his breakup with Lacey, it had felt as if Danny's world was slowly imploding around him. His relationship with his father was strained and rife with mistrust. His friendship with Archie was practically nonexistent. His grades at school were beginning to slip. And Lacey...she treated him like he didn't even exist and her rejection didn't just hurt...it left him feeling eviscerated.

At first, denial had done a fine job of insulating Danny against the pain of losing her. Back then, his heart hadn't yet caught up with his head and he couldn't let himself believe that Lacey sincerely wanted to be apart. He had done his utmost to charm her, to make her smile, to remind her of everything they had been together and everything they could be. But after a solid week of constant avoidance, cold silence and then finally, painfully and directly having Lacey demand that he leave her alone or risk a restraining order, it began to sink in for Danny that Lacey was truly and utterly done with him.

He tried not to let that knowledge break him immediately. He went to class. He studied for his assignments. He tried to take an interest in Jo's pregnancy and overall health but day by day, inch by inch, he felt like he was dying. He struggled against it at first. Gradually, however, the depression that settled over him a little more every day and he began to care less and less.

It wasn't very long before those old feelings of worthlessness and long suppressed insecurities began an insidious creeping into his heart and mind. He had taken his first drink after nearly three months of sobriety less than two weeks after he and Lacey had called it quits and he hadn't stopped since. The alcohol helped to numb the ache that had taken up permanent residence in his chest since that day. It took the edge off. It helped him function. But it also put him right back in the same place that he had been before meeting Lacey Porter.

Prior to Lacey, he had been merely existing, simply drifting from one exploit to the next, living his life on a precarious edge every moment of every day because that was the only time he ever felt anything remotely close to happiness. But then he had met Lacey and he no longer needed drugs and alcohol and sex to feel happy. Lacey had been enough. She had been exactly what he needed. It was a bitter pill to swallow to know that _he_ hadn't been enough for her. Somehow, he had been left in an even worse state than before he had met her.

He felt as if he had lost everything. And while Danny knew that wasn't completely true, that he still had his father to some extent and Jo and the baby, his reasons for joy and hope were gone. That was the entire reason he had taken it into his head to confront Kyle Masterson in the first place. He knew very what it felt like to have nothing and nobody. Danny did not want that same thing for Jo. It was far too late for him. His life was already wrecked well beyond repair. But it wasn't too late for Jo. He had failed her in every other respect but Danny was determined not to fail her in this.

"If you don't think I'm what she needs then you should call her," he told Kyle, "Tell her she can come back home. Be a father!"

"You think you're in any position to lecture me about that?"

"At least I'm trying! Let her come home!"

"Why? Are you caving under the responsibility already?"

"It has nothing to do with that!" Danny exploded, "She needs her parents. If you don't stop what you're doing, you're going to break her! Is that what you want?"

"So now, after years of negligence and selfishness, you're an expert on what Jo Marie needs?"

"I'm not the one turning my back on my kid! You are!"

That outburst did what nothing else had. It finally cracked the icy veneer that had served as Kyle Masterson's expression for the last ten minutes. He regarded Danny with glistening eyes, looking as if he wanted to strangle Danny within an inch of his life and simultaneously burst into tears. "It's easy to call yourself a father when your child isn't even born yet. Talk to me again when you have to watch your daughter make bad choices that could potentially ruin her life forever."

"Since when is having a baby the worst thing in the world? You won't let her come home for _that_?"

"Is that what she told you? That we won't let her come home because she's pregnant?"

"You won't talk to her! You won't let her come back home! What else is she supposed to think?"

"I'm not keeping Jo from coming home, Danny," Kyle uttered thickly, "It's _her_ choice to stay away. It's her choice to be with _you_."

Danny stumbled back a step, shaking his head. "What are you talking about?"

"We wanted her to go away...her mother and I," Kyle explained in an unemotional tone, "We thought that she needed some distance from you. For years, I've tried to give you the benefit of the doubt. I made excuses for you to Tess when she wanted to the friendship between you and Jo to end. I told her that you had a screwed up life with a screwed up family but that, underneath it all, you were really a good kid, just scared and confused. I convinced my wife to let you be in our daughter's life and what did I get in return?"

Guilt sluiced over Danny in waves, causing his voice to quiver when he said, "I'm sorry..."

"You've been saying that your whole life, Danny! It means nothing. You slept with my daughter. You got her pregnant. And you left her feeling so alone and so scared that she felt like she had to hide it from her own family for six _freaking_ months! 'Sorry' doesn't begin to atone for that."

"I don't know what you want me to say."

"There's nothing you can say," Kyle replied wearily, "We wanted Jo to get away from you, to go and stay with her aunt in Louisville until the baby was born. You want to know why she can't come home? It's because she can't let you go. She wants to be with you. She thinks she loves you."

Danny slumped into the nearest chair, his shoulders hunched forward in defeat. "I didn't know any of that," he mumbled, "She didn't tell me."

"Of course she didn't tell you. She wanted to protect _you_ and take care of _you_! She's been doing that her whole damned life!"

"I know that."

"Then stop letting her do it, damn it! You're not a kid anymore, Danny. She can't do what she needs to do and shoulder you too! You're a man now with a child on the way. Grow the hell up!"

"I am. I'm trying to do what's right for her."

"How? By getting drunk and high? By wasting your life and your future? By being the same selfish asshole you've always been?"

Danny felt lacerated by each word, beaten down with every utterance. He had no defense against himself, nothing he could say to ease Kyle Masterson's consternation and so he said the only true thing he could say in that moment. "I'm not high."

Kyle grunted at that. "Not today, at least."

"No," he whispered hoarsely, head bent, "Not today."

"That's not good enough, Danny. That's nowhere near good enough."

"I can't suddenly change overnight!" Danny pinned him with a glittering stare. "I'm doing the best I can."

"Are you?"

"You don't know what the hell I've been through lately, okay! You don't get to judge me for how I choose to deal!"

"Nobody's life is perfect. So you got a raw deal. So what! I've got news for you! Everybody gets a raw deal! The only difference is that we don't have the luxury of falling into the gutter when we do!"

"You think I want to be like this?"

"I do. Because it's a hell of a lot easier to throw up your hands and give up then it is to push through the pain and keep going. You've taken the easy way out your entire life, Danny. I don't expect this time to be any different...only this time my daughter will be collateral damage. And _your_ daughter too."

"That's not going to happen. I'm going to give my kid everything I didn't have growing up. She's going to have a real family. She's going to know she's loved."

"And how are you going to do that when you're flushing your life down the toilet? What's going to happen when you overdose again and you _will_ if you keep going down this road! What happens if you finally succeed in killing yourself? What happens to Jo? What happens to my granddaughter?"

"If anything happens to me they'll have what they need. I'll make sure of it."

Kyle slammed his hand against his desk in a flash of frustration. "Damn it, Danny! That's your problem! Money does not fix everything!"

"Well, I can't be fixed either," Danny retorted, "And I'm doing the best I can but that's not good enough for you. So you're punishing Jo because I'm a failure."

"I'm not punishing Jo. But I'm not going to support her bad choices. I don't want to see her make any more mistakes."

"Are you saying that I'm a mistake...that our baby is a mistake? Because, if so, go to hell! That baby is one of the only good things I have in my life right now!"

"This isn't about you!" Kyle snapped, "This is about Jo and what she needs. This is about what that baby needs! Jo loves you, Danny. She can't think about her own future because she's too worried about yours. She's going to destroy herself trying to put you back together!"

"Do you want me to walk away from her? Is that what you're saying?"

For a split second, Kyle actually considered saying yes before finally shaking his head in defeat. "If I didn't think your rejection would devastate her to hell, I would tell you to walk away with my blessing. But I know that if you were to do that it wouldn't solve a damn thing."

"Then tell me what to do," Danny pleaded, "Tell me how to fix this for her. She's my best friend. She and the baby are all I have."

Kyle steadied himself against softening his tone even while he found himself pitying the anguished young man before him. "You say that Jo is your best friend. Then act like it," Kyle grated, "Stop doing this to yourself and, most importantly, stop doing this to _her_! Be the man Jo needs you to be. Step up. Take responsibility. Don't be her biggest regret. _That_ is what you owe to my daughter and nothing less."


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**Chapter Eighteen**

"You are pathetic."

Rather than ordering her sister from her room that very instant, Lacey instead burrowed her head deeper under her pillow. However, Clara wasn't deterred by Lacey's attempt to ignore her. She moved to the foot of Lacey's bed and uttered the words again, louder than the first. This time Lacey responded to her baby sister's stinging assessment. While her words were muffled they were still quite distinguishable as she moaned from beneath the pillow, "Bite me."

Clara bit back her answering smile. "I'm sorry, I didn't get all that," she needled.

Lacey whipped upright at that point and demanded in an angry huff, "Would you go away?" She didn't wait to see if Clara would comply but, instead, resumed her earlier position. To her ever-growing aggravation, Clara abruptly yanked the pillow her grasp and threw it to the other side of her bedroom. Lacey glared at her. Clara was unmoved.

"This has gotta stop," she told Lacey, "You've been moping around the house for weeks and you're really starting to bore me!"

"No one invited you in here in the first place," Lacey pointed out petulantly before rolling face first into her mattress. "Just leave me alone."

Unruffled by her sister's surly tone, Clara flopped down on the bed next to Lacey and began plunking at the wry strands of her uncombed hair. "You look like crap," she assessed flatly, "When was the last time you went outside or brushed your hair...or took a shower for that matter? You've been wearing the same sweats for two days! Get a grip. You're acting like somebody died."

"Go away," Lacey groaned again.

"Nope. Not until you tell me why you've been such a sad sack lately."

Lacey briefly lifted her head to favor Clara with a dour look. "You already know the answer to that."

"So, if you're so freaking miserable, why don't you call him already?" Clara reasoned impatiently, "Here, I'll help you dial." She had barely even begun to reach for the cordless phone on Lacey's nightstand before her sister's hand shot out to catch hold of her wrist in a vise-like hold. Startled, she glanced up to find Lacey glowering at her with glittering eyes.

"Don't you dare," she enunciated in a warning tone.

Clara jerked her wrist free but wisely didn't make a second attempt at the telephone. "You're being ridiculous."

Lacey flopped back down against her rumbled comforter, as if that small bit of activity had taxed her of all available strength. "You know I can't call him," she mumbled wearily, "and you know why."

"So then you're just going to be miserable no matter what?"

"Exactly," Lacey replied before rolling into the mattress once again.

"Now you know why I call you pathetic. It's like you _want_ to be unhappy."

That accusation had Lacey snapping upright, angry fire leaping in the depths of her red-rimmed eyes. "What else am I supposed to do, Clara?" she bit out, "He's having a baby with her! They live together! She's his _freaking_ best friend! I cannot compete with that!"

"You don't have to compete. Danny loves _you,_ " Clara pointed out. Lacey absorbed that proclamation with a despondent sigh before averting her eyes completely. She didn't do it quickly enough that Clara didn't notice the fresh tears that had begun to well in her eyes. She released an empathetic sigh. "But that's not enough for you, is it?" she concluded softly.

"No," Lacey whispered gruffly, "It isn't."

Clara reached over to pat her hand, her earlier judgment all but dissipated. "So what do you want to do?"

"Is eating two gallons of chocolate ice cream an option?"

"Only if you want your thighs to rub together." It was altogether fleeting but Lacey responded to that with a short laugh. Encouraged by the breakthrough, Clara said, "You might actually feel better if you left this room for some reason other than school."

Lacey's expression darkened anew. "Getting out of bed for school is hard enough. When I see him in class..."

Clara nudged her when she petered off into silence. "Have you talked to him at all?"

"I can't," Lacey replied, the words sounding as if they were being wrenched from her chest, "I want to...so bad but, I can't. If I talk him, he'll break me down."

"You really do love him, don't you?" Lacey didn't answer but Clara didn't need her verbal confirmation. The truth was plainly evident on her face whether she said the words or not. Clara reached over to gather her sister in her arms, grateful when Lacey didn't resist her attempt at comfort. "For the record, I think you're going about this all wrong," she said softly, "Lacey, your feelings for Danny aren't just going to go away because you ignore them. It's pretty obvious that you're not getting over him any time soon."

"I don't want to get over him."

"Then why are you doing this?" Clara cried in exasperation.

"Because I can't be with him either. I can't handle him having a baby with her. I just can't!"

"Maybe you can try talking to him again...set some boundaries..." Clara suggested helplessly.

"We can't fix it, Clara. It's done." She shrugged out of Clara's hold and scooted upright, her shoulders hunched in defeat. "I told him that if he didn't stop trying to talk to me that I would get a restraining order against him."

Clara gaped at her. "You did what?"

"He wouldn't stop trying to charm me with his lame jokes and that stupid smile and it was working and I can't let it work." Her voice broke as she continued, "He can't put me first right now and I can't deal with him choosing her over me. I won't be in a relationship where I have to come second to another woman!"

"So how did he react to that?"

"I threatened him with a restraining order and told him I wanted him to stay out of my life, Clara," Lacey huffed miserably, "How do you think he reacted?" Her expression lost its heat as she added in an anguished, "He's stopped talking to me. He won't even look at me."

"And it's killing you."

"I can't be with him but I don't want him to stop loving me," she admitted in a suffocated tone, "I know I sound like a selfish bitch but it's how I feel."

"You don't sound selfish. You sound human."

"I feel like I'm in hell," Lacey muttered, "I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't."

Clara scooted closer to her on the bed. "I think you need to weigh the pros and cons of this situation, Lacey," she considered sagely, "Does it suck more to be with Danny or to be without him?"

"Definitely without him," Lacey answered without a beat, "But then I go and volunteer at the hospital and I see her and her belly that's getting bigger and bigger with his baby and I...I just...I feel..."

"Jealous?" Clara provided gently when she faltered.

Lacey's disgust with herself over that fact was evident but she didn't try denying Clara's assertion. "She's going to be a freaking teenage mother! She's completely complicated her whole life. She's in love with a guy who doesn't want her and yet...I _envy_ her because she has a place in his life that I don't. I hate that I feel insecure about it at all."

"It's a tough situation. You gotta give yourself a break."

"I hate how helpless and needy I feel all the time," Lacey whispered, "I can't let him do that to me. I can't turn into that person."

Clara posed her next question with gentle care, as if she were afraid Lacey would implode emotionally simply to have the words voiced aloud. "Do...do you think he has real feelings for her or something?"

"He says he doesn't."

Her lack of conviction was easily detectable. "You don't believe him?"

Lacey shrugged. "She's his best friend. He's known her since he was in diapers. They have a bond. They have history together. She has his loyalty, his trust, his affection and..."

"...she's having his kid," Clara finished when Lacey couldn't bring herself to utter to words.

"Yep."

"Okay...so maybe I was a little judgmental in my initial assessment of the situation," Clara considered softly, "Maybe you're not so pathetic after all. To be perfectly honest, Lacey, your life kinda sucks."

"Yeah, I know." Lacey flopped back into the rumpled bed linens to contemplate her bedroom ceiling. "Can I pick them or what?"

Her sister stretcher out beside her, pursing her mouth thoughtfully. "Well...on the plus side, at least their hot." A startled laugh bubbled from between Lacey's lips as Clara smacked her lips for emphasis. "Fine, hot pieces of tail."

Lacey shook her head, favoring her sister with a half smile filled with gratitude and affection. "You are a hot mess."

Far from offended by that assessment, Clara appeared rather proud of the title. "Well," she said, puffing out her chest a little, "I am the best at what I do." Lacey expelled yet another grunt of laughter. Encouraged by the slight lift in her spirits, Clara regarded Lacey with an intensely solemn expression. "Do you think you could try not to be so depressed from now on? You're starting to scare me a little."

Far too soon Lacey's wobbly smile disappeared behind a shuttered expression once more. "I'm not suicidal, Clara," she sighed with some exasperation, "I'm just sad."

"Then maybe you should do something about that." Almost the instant Clara made the suggestion the front door echoed throughout the confines of their empty house. The sisters froze, regarding one another with suspended breaths of anticipation. A slow smile stretched across Clara's face. "Maybe this is your chance."

"That's not Danny," Lacey declared but her tone wavered with the possibility.

"Could be. Maybe this is Fate's way of forcing the conversation you've been avoiding."

"No, it isn't. I have nothing to say to him. Besides, he'd never show up here again anyway...not after that last conversation we had."

"Welp..." Clara drawled, preparing her body for the mad dash that was imminent, "...guess there's only one way to find out."

A split second later both girls shot up from the bed, both with the same goal in mind: reaching the front door first. Amid the pounding of their feet and girlish screeches, they jostled and elbowed one another aside, ignoring the aggravated scolding from their mother to keep the noise down in their wild efforts to make it to the foyer. In the end, and much to Lacey's growing annoyance, Clara reached the front door first and, before Lacey even had a second to mentally prepare herself, she flung open the door.

But while Lacey held her breath in anticipation of what was coming, Clara bit out short, incredulous curse. Her laughing smile immediately collapsed into a grimace of distaste when she saw who was on the other side. "You've got to be kidding me."

The surliness in her tone helped to quiet the active churning in the pit of Lacey's belly and provoked her curiosity instead. She inched closer to the door, half afraid to peek around the corner while feeling compelled to do so at the same time. "Who is it?" she mouthed to Clara with anxious timidity, adding in a louder whisper, "Is it Danny?"

"No," a baritone voice answered as the door yawned wider. Lacey's breath caught in a sharpened gasp as he finished, "It's Chris. Who the hell is Danny?"

Lacey stumbled back a step as Christopher Carnell, her first love and first major heartbreak, stepped into view with wobbly smile. Never in her life had Lacey Porter ever fainted or even felt close to doing so but, at that precise moment, she was almost certain she was going to face plant. It felt like the world was tilting crazily under her feet. Reflexively, she grabbed onto a nearby table to keep from toppling over altogether. She was so dazed, she couldn't even answer her mother when Judy called down from upstairs wanting to know who was at the door. In the end, it was Clara who maintained enough composure to lie about it.

Under different circumstances, Clara might have been amused to see her usually articulate sister at such a loss for words but not this time. She was very well aware of her sister's precarious emotional state. Being confronted by the guy who actually helped to deepen her abandonment issues probably wasn't going to improve matters. That reason alone was enough for Clara to resent Chris Carnell with every fiber of her being. The fact that he'd broken her sister's heart, however...well, that was more than enough for her to hate him. Consequently, she was more inclined to punch him in his smug, smiling face than she was to laugh at Lacey's obvious discomfiture.

While Lacey continued to flail around for an appropriate response beyond opening and closing her mouth ineffectually, Clara stepped in between her and the erstwhile ex and swept Chris with a belligerent once-over. "Did you get lost or something? No one invited you here, Chris!"

"Hey, Clara. I can see you're as bratty as ever."

Clara narrowed her eyes. "I could still slam the door in your face," she warned, "How's that for bratty?"

"I didn't come all this way to fight with you. I'm here for Lacey." He tried to step around her then but Clara obstinately blocked his path. After an impatient inhale Chris tried again only to be met with the same response. "Get out of my way, Clara!"

She plunked her hands on her hips at the edict. "Make me. You've got some nerve even showing up here after what you did. I should kick your ass on principle alone!"

Chris directed a helpless glance over her shoulder at a visibly dumbfounded Lacey. "Baby, can you call off your pit bull or what?" When Lacey continued to stare at him with haunted eyes, he added in a soft, cajoling tone, "Can we please talk? I came all of this way for you."

Incensed that he would even dare to address her sister after the warnings she'd already issued, Clara punched a single finger to the center of his chest. "Listen asshole, You have about two seconds to get off of our porch before I fu-"

"-Clara, don't!" Lacey cried, speaking for the first time since Chris had greeted her. Both Clara and Chris did a double-take with her unanticipated protest. "Don't make him go."

Clara gaped at her as if she'd just sprouted a horn through her forehead. "What? What are you saying? You want to talk to this idiot?"

"I...I think I should...don't you?" Lacey replied but with markedly less conviction than her earlier statement.

Her sister's expression lost some of its belligerence then. "You don't owe him anything, Lacey."

"I know," she whispered, stepping around a speechless Clara to gesture Chris inside, "But I need the closure...I think."

"Thank you," Chris whispered after Lacey had closed the front door behind him.

Lacey regarded him with expressionless, brown eyes. "Don't thank me yet," she warned him. "What are you doing here, Chris?"

"I wanted to see you." He stanchly ignored Clara's grunting and melodramatic eye-rolling over that declaration. "I _needed_ to see you." Lacey's lack of reply compelled him to add, "I...I wanted to call you but I didn't know if you'd want to talk to me."

"You should have tried anyway."

"I guess I didn't want to take the chance of you telling me 'no.' I needed to see you, Lacey," he reiterated firmly.

"When did you decide that?" Lacey scoffed, "Was it before or after you decided it was over between us?"

He dropped his head forward with a chagrined grunt and when he met her eyes again his own were filled with remorse and guilt. "I made a mistake. Haven't you ever run from something because you were afraid you couldn't handle the fallout?" Lacey averted her gaze, all too familiar with exactly what that was like. "I was so afraid that you'd come out here and find somebody else that I didn't even want to try. I know now that was the wrong thing to do."

Lacey groaned inwardly with his words. She might have laughed at the supreme irony of it all if she weren't so nauseated right then. She didn't know how to tell him that all the fears he had harbored concerning her moving away had most indeed come to fruition. She _had_ fallen for someone else after all. What was worse, Lacey couldn't be sure that wouldn't have happened regardless of whether Chris had broken up with her or not. In hindsight, Lacey could see clearly that Chris' instincts about their relationship had been right along. It made Lacey wonder if her instincts about her and Danny were equally accurate.

He was standing there, waiting for her to say something to exonerate him but there was nothing she could say. As far as she was concerned, even with the tremendous hurt he had caused her, Lacey knew that Chris had done the right thing. But _knowing_ the truth didn't make _accepting_ it any easier. Four months ago, she would have gladly welcomed Chris stepping back into her life and saying all the things she had been yearning to hear back then. Four months ago she would have been conflicted. Now, however, four months ago felt like a lifetime and nothing in her life was remotely the same.

Still, Lacey couldn't deny that there remained a twinge of feeling for him inside of her. He was Chris after all...her first love, her first lover...her first real loss. She had missed him. And the feelings of familiarity that he provoked, especially now when everything in her life felt foreign and strange, were welcome. Lacey hadn't realized how desperately she needed a manner of sameness and predictably until just the moment when she realized that she'd been without those things for months now.

Not much had changed in his appearance since she'd last seen him. He was still as good-looking as ever, his dark, even tone offset by the brilliance of his cocky smile. His posture hadn't changed. He still kept his hands shoved into his pockets with that same self-assured slouch of his shoulders. The only difference was that seeing him didn't provoke the same weak-kneed response in Lacey that it once had.

She didn't have a fluttering in the pit of her stomach. She wasn't overcome by the desire to be close to him, to have his arms around her. She was no longer tied in anguished knots by the knowledge that he didn't love her the way he once had. Back then, she had been unable to imagine a future without him. Now, however, she was at peace. She had moved on...unfortunately to a man who was as unavailable to her as she was now to Chris. The irony was definitely unending but also a little sad.

The feelings she'd once harbored for him, feelings she had been sure would be a part of her for eternity, had faded now. They weren't completely gone but muted in a way that was tolerable to her. She felt nothing more than a sense of fondness for him now and, considering the fact that he had broken up with her during one of the most painful and vulnerable periods of her life, the realization was a little surprising.

Strangely, Lacey didn't feel any bitterness towards him. She didn't want to yell or scream or tell him what a coward and rotten bastard he had been. There was only a lingering bit of regret she felt for how far they had drifted apart. There was the sorrowful understanding that she didn't and couldn't love him the way she once had. Her heart was too full of someone that she couldn't have. And perhaps that was the saddest realization of all. She deeply mourned the fact that what she had once felt for Chris Carnell wasn't anywhere near strong enough to push Danny Desai out of her heart. She was beginning to doubt that anything ever would be.

Unaware of the regretful musings tumbling through Lacey's mind right then and growing more and more anxious in the wake of her protracted silence, Chris finally prodded, "Aren't you going to say anything? If you want to yell at me, yell at me."

Lacey gave a slight shake of her head. "I don't want to yell at you, Chris."

Beside her, Clara mumbled, "I want to yell at him."

As if suddenly realizing for the first time that she and Chris weren't alone, Lacey turned to her sister and suggested in a gentle whisper, "Maybe you should go upstairs for a little while."

Clara balked at the suggestion. "And leave you alone with _him_? Are you crazy?"

"I can handle it," Lacey reassured her.

"No, you can't," Clara insisted firmly. She lowered her voice to an almost guttural whisper to add, "And you know why. Don't rebound with this idiot."

The corner of Lacey's mouth lifted in a wry smile. "Didn't you just give me this same advice not too long ago?"

"And did you listen to me? Nope. You didn't."

"This isn't the same. I promise I know what I'm doing. Go upstairs."

Clara's stubborn stance relaxed in small increments. "Please don't do anything stupid, Lacey."

"I won't. Go upstairs and keep Mom busy. I don't want her coming down here being nosy."

After jerking her head in a reluctant nod, Clara began heading towards the steps. She paused on the second one to direct a withering look at Chris. "You hurt her again and I'll kick you so hard in the junk you'll be tasting it for a year."

Chris watched with wary eyes as Clara disappeared up the steps. "Your sister really scares me," he mused aloud to Lacey.

"Yeah," Lacey said after clearing her throat, "she has that effect on a lot of people."

It was only when Clara was no longer there to serve as a buffer that Lacey became truly cognizant of the stilted awkwardness that existed between her and Chris. While she had an increasingly difficult time meeting his eyes or even looking at him altogether Chris, on the other hand, drank her in with his eyes as if he had been starved for the sight of her. His avid interested only succeeded in heightening Lacey's discomfort, a feeling that only intensified when he stepped forward to take her into his arms. Lacey immediately sidestepped his attempt which resulted in both of them staring at one another uneasily.

"I get it," he said gruffly when she finally looked away, "You're mad at me still."

"I'm not." But the denial sounded weak to her ears. She compressed her lips in a thin line and took several deep breaths in a bid to regain her composure. Once she was calmer, Lacey looked at him again, this time her features an impassive mask. "Why did you come here, Chris? How did you even know where I lived?"

"Sarita told me."

"Sarita?" Lacey scoffed, incredulous at the idea that her childhood friend would have talked to him about her at all. "There's no way. She hates you more than Clara does. Since when does Sarita even talk to you?"

"Since we both realized that we had missing you in common," he replied softly.

To mask the visceral blow those softly spoken words dealt her, Lacey responded with a noncommittal grunt. "Sarita and I talk almost every week on the phone. She's never said a word about you."

"Are you sure you talk that often? She says she hasn't heard from you in a month."

Lacey dropped her eyes, her heart fluttering a little in her chest with the unspoken implication. She swallowed thickly. "What else did Sarita tell you?"

"That you were having a hard time adjusting here. That you missed home...and you missed us."

"Why didn't she say anything to me?"

"I asked her not to."

"She's my friend, not yours!" Lacey retorted in a burst of angry fire, "She should have told me instead of letting me be blindsided like this!"

"Is that how you feel right now?"

Lacey threw up her hands in exasperation. "God, Chris! You just show up out of nowhere! What am I supposed to do with that?"

"I didn't want you to get the wrong idea...about Sarita and me. I didn't want you to get mad."

Recoiling inwardly at his unvoiced suggestion that she would have been jealous, Lacey crossed her arms and regarded him with an obstinate glare. "Why would I be mad? It's not like we're together or anything."

Her flat tone left him fidgeting in discomfiture. "Okay, I get it. You say you're not mad but it's pretty clear you're pissed off at me right now. So just say what you want to say."

Lacey shrugged. "What do you want me to say? Everything was so messed up after you left. I'm just dealing with the fallout now."

"I can help you with that."

"I don't want your help."

"Because you're mad."

"Because I'm over it!"

He flinched, not only at her words but at the conviction that underscored her tone. "Baby, come on. Don't be like this. I know you and I know you're only reacting like this because I hurt you. The stuff I said before you left Baltimore...that was uncalled for and..."

"You were right," Lacey interrupted before he could finish, "We were headed for a breakup anyway. You didn't want any strings, remember?"

"I was being stupid when I said that." Lacey scoffed at his denial but he persisted. "It's true. I thought everything would settle down after you left but the only thing that happened was me missing you and being sorry I let you go."

Lacey scowled, irrationally angry with him because he was saying all the right things much too late. "Chris, you can't just show up here after four months of nothing, tell me you want me back and expect me to fall into your arms! It doesn't work that way!"

"I didn't say that it did. I just want a chance. That's all I'm asking for...some time and a chance."

"To do what?"

"To make you love me again."

Lacey bit her lip to keep from smiling, a little horrified to realize that she wasn't as immune to his charm as she first thought. "That's not going to happen."

"We'll see."

Despite her instincts screaming at her to the contrary, Lacey was almost inclined to let him try. It would be incredibly easy to reconcile with Chris. They came from the same place and had a similar background. She had known him for most of her life. He was a stable and grounding force, familiar and comfortable. He knew her history, her aspirations and her fears. But, most importantly of all, he was free to love her. He was free to put her first and that was something that Lacey desperately needed.

However, in spite of the pervasive considerations running rampant through her mind right then, Lacey remained guarded. "Don't think you can just waltz back into my life, flash that stupid smile and I'm just going to take you back," she told him, "I'm not the same girl who left Baltimore."

"You don't see that different to me."

"Stop acting like you know me anymore! You don't, Chris. We've been apart a long time."

"Baby, it's been four months, not four years."

She glowered at him. "Stop calling me 'baby!'"

"Why? Are you starting to like it too much?"

"Please, get over yourself."

"I'm just saying that if we still have feelings for each other, that should be enough."

"What if it's not?" Lacey insisted, "A lot has changed since I left, Chris. I've discovered how strong I am and what I can and can't accept. I'm in school now. I'm making a life here. I have a really good shot of being accepted into the nursing program. It's not like I'm going to move back to Baltimore so that we can pick up where we left off."

"I'm not asking you to."

"Then what's the point? We're basically in the same place we were before I left! Nothing's changed."

"That's not true," he refuted softly, "Something has changed. _I've_ changed. I know that I screwed up with you before and all I want to do now is fix it...however long that takes." He started to say more but just as he did he noticed Clara standing directly above them on the upstairs landing, shamelessly eavesdropping. He alerted Lacey to her shenanigans with a meaningful nod.

"Clara!" she screeched in aggravation, "God! Will you go away?"

"I know you're not falling for that line of b.s.," her sister snorted, "Please tell me you're smarter than that!"

"Go away!"

Once Clara had stormed off, the sound of her slamming door reverberating in the silence she'd left in her wake, Chris edged closer to Lacey. "Do you think that maybe we could go somewhere else?" he suggested softly. Lacey surveyed him with wary eyes. "Just to talk."

Upstairs, her mother had already begun griping about all the noise being made and Lacey knew that it would be only a matter of time before Judy Porter discovered Chris' presence and then summarily kicked him out. Lacey made her decision after only a few, pensive beats of silence. "Okay," she agreed, plucking her jacket off of the nearby coat rack, "I know a place we can go."


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**Chapter Nineteen**

She opted to take him to Johnnycakes. The diner was filled with patrons and bustling with activity. Lacey was supremely grateful for that fact. Johnnycakes was just the place to provide them with the privacy they needed to talk with none of the intimacy. She wanted to be alone with Chris but she didn't want to be _alone_. As they were directed to their booth near the very rear of the restaurant, Lacey started to dread the awkwardness she knew was about to ensue.

After they were seated and placed their drink orders with the server, Lacey snatched up her menu in hopes of distracting herself when Chris muttered in an under-breath, "I feel like I've gone back in time."

And, just like that, Lacey's unease was forgotten. She regarded Chris with a slow, knowing smile. "You think I just brought you to the whitest place in America, don't you?"

Chris cast a furtive glance about his shoulders, noting only a few faces of color among the mostly Caucasian clientele. He cast Lacey a wry glance. "It's a close second."

Lacey laughed. "Honestly, I thought the same thing when we first moved here but Green Grove isn't really that bad. It's a nice, quiet community."

"A nice, quiet community?" Chris echoed, the corner of his mouth tilted in an amused smile, "Since when did that become important?"

"Since my mom fell apart after my dad left." Chris' smile instantly collapsed with her blunt reply. However, there was no accusation in Lacey's tone as she continued. "She needs the predictably and monotony this community offers. Baltimore got to be too much, you know?"

Chris shifted around in his seat, guilt stamped into his features as he regarded her. "So...ah...how's she doing...you know...since...?"

"You mean since my dad announced he was gay and left us?" Lacey finished flatly, "She's less of a mess than she was before, I guess."

"And you?"

"What about me?"

"How are you handling everything?"

Lacey checked the impulse to roll her eyes. "So you care _now_?"

"I'm here, aren't I?"

"Yeah," she muttered, unenthused, "Four months too late."

Their waitress chose that exact moment to deliver their drinks but Chris requested more time when she pressed them for their orders. He waited until she was out of earshot before he addressed Lacey again. "You gotta cut me some slack," he burst out in a quiet hiss, "I was freaking out okay! You wanted to stay in Baltimore. I wanted to get the hell out of there. You were talking about getting married and having a family when we were barely even out of high school!

"It felt like you were moving 150 mph," he went on emphatically, "I couldn't keep up! Then everything went down with your dad and it just felt like you were expecting me to be all of these things I wasn't ready to be."

"So you bailed on me."

"That's not what I did. Don't try to turn me into your dad, Lacey!"

"You're no different! I thought you and I wanted the same things until...until we didn't anymore. And that's not on me, Chris. _You_ were the one who decided I wasn't enough anymore," Lacey refuted flatly, "And, for the record, I wasn't expecting us to get married right away or anything! I just wanted you to know that I wanted a future with you. That's all."

"I get that now. But, at the time, everything was changing so fast and I...I didn't handle it very well."

"You don't say."

Once again, he reached across the table to cover her hand with his own. "I'm trying to change that. I want to make it up to you, baby...if you let me."

The appeal lurking in the dark depths of his eyes filled Lacey with nervous apprehension. She darted a desperate glance about her to avoid his eyes, grateful when she spied their impatient waitress near the counter. She pulled her hand free and swept up her menu and perused it with artificial interest, pretending to ignore the intensity of Chris Carnell's stare. "We should order now. I recommend one of the cheeseburgers," she suggested in a deceptively casual tone, "They're incredible."

Sensing the attempt she was making at establishing emotional distance between them, Chris reached across the table and gently grabbed hold of her hands. Just that simple touch commanded Lacey's attention, making words unnecessary. She regarded him with wide, wary eyes.

"Baby, I didn't come all of this way for a cheeseburger," he said softly, "I came here for you."

Lacey slowly tugged her hands from his grasp, nibbling self-consciously on her lower lip. "It's not that easy, Chris. A lot has changed since we last saw each other. I'm not the same person I was."

"You seem the same to me."

She shook her head, refuting his implicit argument. "You don't know what I've been through."

"So tell me," he urged.

Lacey glared at him. "It's not that simple! _You_ broke up with me! _You_ didn't want me. I'm not just going to fall at your feet now because you changed your mind!"

"Listen, I know you're pissed off at me and you have every right to be but...we love each other."

"We _loved_ each other," Lacey emphasized brusquely, "Past tense."

Chris leaned back in his seat to regard her speculatively, his expression remote. "Well, I love you," he said, "You're saying you don't love me back?"

The question was a simple one but Lacey found that she didn't have a simple answer. She still cared about him and felt compelled by their shared past and experiences. Good or bad, he was an essential part of her. He had helped to shape her into the woman she had become and for that Lacey would always be grateful. She would always love him.

But what she felt for him paled in comparison to what she felt for Danny Desai. While she had been hurt when Chris broke up with her, she felt a deep, visceral ache being apart from Danny. Her relationship with Chris had seemed like a natural progression, a gradual transition from friends to lovers. Danny, on the other hand, had drawn her from the first moment she had seen him. She had connected with him on an almost primal level. And then later, beyond that initial, undeniable attraction, she had come to know him, his strengths and his weaknesses, and she had fallen irrevocably in love with him. Now that love was like a brand on her heart. Lacey knew that she would always belong to Danny whether they were together or not.

With all of that in mind, Lacey knew that she couldn't lead Chris on, even if his renewed interest in her provided a welcome distraction from her heartbreak. "Chris, you know that I care about you-,"

"-That's never a good start."

"Hear me out," Lacey pleaded, "I really am glad you came out here to see me. I didn't like the way we left things before."

"Neither did I. That's why I came here, Lacey. I want to fix it. I want to fix _us_."

"I don't know if we can do that."

His jaw tightened with her refusal. "Tell me why."

"It's complicated."

"Well, I'm not going anywhere," he huffed. His indifferent facade slipped an instant later. "God, Lacey! Don't trash us just because you're pissed off at me!"

"I'm not trashing us! _You_ did that and _this_ is the result!"

"So you won't take me back because you're angry?"

"I won't take you back because I'm over it, Chris," Lacey clarified softly, "And I'm over you."

He crossed his arms in a gesture reeking with challenge. "You're over me?"

Lacey snorted in exasperation. "Contrary to what you might think, there is life after Christopher Carnell."

"So you're saying if I tried to kiss you right now, you wouldn't feel anything?"

Her superior smile collapsed with that question. "You shouldn't try to kiss me."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Why? You afraid I'm gonna make a liar out of you?"

"No. I just don't want you to kiss me. We're way past that."

"Right."

"This isn't me playing 'hard to get' right now, Chris."

"Then what is this?" he challenged.

She shrugged. "Me being over it." Before he could contest that statement, Lacey snatched up her menu once more and stared at the glossy, laminated surface with laser focus. "Our waitress is going to get really aggravated with us if we don't order soon."

He studied her bent head for a long moment, his facade of confidence crumbling abruptly. Chris fiddled with the edge of his own menu and expelled a stuttering sigh, finally summoning the courage to ask the question he had wanted to ask since they'd first arrived at the diner. "Tell me the truth, Lacey," he urged softly, "Is there someone else?"

Just as Lacey jerked to attention with the decision to tell him the truth and let the chips fall as they would, the diner door simultaneously chimed, signaling the arrival of a new customer. Her reply froze in her throat as she caught sight of Danny as he stepped inside. Without delay, her heart began knocking wildly in her chest, so violently she could almost feel the pressure building in her throat. It was crazy how she had so quickly veered from calm, confident and collected to panicked and insecure within a literal matter of seconds.

Nothing too drastic had changed about him since the last time she had seen him...he still wore the same signature, fitting tee, loose fit blue jeans he usually wore, his dark hair secured at the top of his head in its standard messy bun. There was no reason for Lacey to feel as if she were poised on the edge of a severe anxiety attack but that was _exactly_ how she felt. That was the way she always felt with Danny Desai, gut punched and filled with pain in his presence.

It was difficult to tear her eyes from him when she wanted nothing more than to drink him in with her gaze but Lacey found the wherewithal to do so when Danny was inevitably trailed inside the diner by Jo Masterson. And, just like that, Lacey was forcefully reminded of all the reasons she and Danny shouldn't be together. Being resolved in that conviction, however, didn't cause her to hurt any less at the sight of Jo's expanding middle. She didn't want to care, didn't want her rival's pregnancy to be such a deal-breaker where it pertained to her own personal happiness but it was...and it did. It broke _everything_.

Lacey made a belated attempt to regain her composure in those ensuing milliseconds but the damage was already complete. She made a small, mewling sound in the back of her throat, alerting Chris to her discomfiture. He wasn't deterred by her attempt to hide her devastated reaction behind her menu either. Instead, after noting her stricken expression and strange behavior, Chris swiveled around in his seat to follow her previous line of sight. Afterwards, he bounced a questioning look between Lacey and the newly arrived couple who was waiting their turn to be seated.

"Do you know those guys?"

She sat there, her throat bobbing in a spasmodic swallow, the words lodged there in an acrid ball when Danny chose that precise second to lift his head and look directly at her. By that point, Lacey was quite sure her heart was going to leap right out of her chest. There was no reason why Danny should have so easily spotted her in an establishment so crowded with patrons but he had signaled her out with ease, almost as if he had sensed her presence. Lacey could almost believe that he had. Discomfited even further, she uttered a frustrated curse beneath her breath, her anxiety worsened by Chris' quizzical expression.

"You okay?" he pressed.

It took a feat of monumental strength but Lacey managed to string a coherent sentence together, albeit a painfully short one. "I'm fine."

Chris clearly didn't buy that for a second. "You sure? Because you look like you wanna throw up," he observed slowly, "Do you know those people?"

"Yeah..." Lacey answered in a hoarse whisper, "I...I go to school with them."

"They give you a hard time?"

Lacey darted a furtive glance over towards Danny once more and noted with rising alarm that his eyes hadn't deviated from her at all. He was clearly battling with himself right then, vacillating wildly between his desire to approach her and his determination to respect her request that he stay away. She immediately jerked her eyes back towards the table. "Something like that."

Mistaking the true reason for the abject misery in her tone, Chris started to push himself from the booth with the clear intention of confronting both Danny and Jo. "Oh well, I can shut that down right now."

Before he could rise to his feet completely, Lacey shot out her hand to catch hold of his forearm and detain him. "Please," she pleaded with him almost desperately, "Don't do that, Chris!"

Until that moment, Lacey was certain that the situation couldn't possibly become anymore mortifying than it already was and then she chanced another look at Danny...just as he started to assimilate the fact that she wasn't alone. The betrayed expression to follow was almost more than Lacey could bear.

She half crumpled in her seat, groaning inwardly. "Oh god, I can't believe this is happening."

Her reaction only agitated Chris further. "Lacey, tell me what's going on! You're freaking me the hell out right now! What did they do to you?"

Lacey couldn't answer. She was too preoccupied with the desperate litany that rang out in her heart again and again, "Please don't come over. Please don't come over. Please don't come over." And then, without warning, she got her wish. The hurt she had dealt him disappeared behind a stony mask and, after whispering something to Jo, he turned on his heel and walked out of the restaurant. To Lacey, it felt as if he was taking her heart with him. She was already dangerously close to tears when Jo zeroed in on her with a hateful glare before hastily following after Danny.

Incredulous at the realization that Lacey looked as if she might burst into tears at any moment, Chris exploded, "Who the hell was that?"

Lacey knew she had to get out of there then. Chris' growing impatience was the last straw. She hurriedly began scooting from the booth, babbling out half apologies and explanations as she did so. Chris tried to stop her but she danced out of his reach, her tone desperate when she said, "I'll explain it to you. I just need a minute. Give a minute."

She didn't wait for him to agree but immediately turned on her heel and made a dash for the bathroom. She barely cleared the door before she was in tears. It felt stupid and unfair that she should be so upset to see Danny with Jo when she had been the one to break up with him in the first place but the pain continued to be like nothing that Lacey had ever known. She continued to weep brokenly even with random female patrons filtering in and out of the bathroom. She had suppressed several weeks worth of tears and now that they had broken free Lacey could not dam the up again. She knew she'd have to ride the emotional wave until it was over and so she braced her hands against the sink and sobbed until she couldn't anymore.

When it was over, her nose was running and her eyes were swollen and bloodshot. She did her best to clean herself up but prepared herself for the inevitable questions she knew Chris would have for her. Once she was composed and set with the determination to tell him the truth, Lacey exited the bathroom...and immediately felt her world turn off of its axis once more. Danny, of course, was waiting for her.

Acutely aware of the fact that she looked like an absolute wreck, Lacey blurted out the first words that sprang into her mind. "What are you doing?"

Danny glared at her, his lips compressed in a thin line. "What are _you_ doing?" he countered in a furious hiss, "Who the hell is that guy?"

Lacey stiffened her shoulders. "That's none of your business."

"Like hell!" His anger, however, fizzled all too soon and was replaced with genuine hurt and confusion. "Why are you doing this, Lacey?" She tried to sidle around him but Danny stepped aside with her to block her retreat. "Nope. You don't get to just walk off again."

"God, Danny!" Lacey exploded in exasperation, "What do you want from me?"

"A little honesty would be nice."

Lacey snapped to attention, her lips thinning with affront. "Screw you."

"No, screw you!" he flung back, "You're pushing me away and making us both miserable as hell in the process and whatever it is you're trying to do is not working, Lacey! When will you admit that it's not working? Please...you're killing me here."

She almost ran back into the bathroom right then. Lacey could deal with his anger because his outrage fueled her own. But she couldn't handle his unabashed anguished. That was breaking her apart a piece at a time. Somehow, she found the strength to remain firm with him when she was sure that she didn't have any strength left. "I told you...you need to focus on your baby and Jo."

Danny blinked back the tears that gathered in his eyes. "I feel like you're punishing me."

"That's not what I'm doing," she refuted calmly, "I know what I can and cannot accept for myself."

He stepped closer to her, the proximity causing his and her breaths to quicken. "Are you really telling me you want this?" he challenged.

Lacey struggled to remain firm. "I'm not having this conversation with you outside of a public bathroom, Danny."

Danny responded to that with a mirthless snort. "You're not having this conversation with me period because you refuse to talk to me!"

"You know why."

"So you threaten me with a restraining order?" he balked, "That's kind of extreme, don't you think, Lace?"

She dropped her eyes and muttered in a suffocated, little tone, "You won't stop harassing me."

He stepped impossibly closer, his breath stirring against her cheek as he asked, "Is that what it feels like? You feel like I'm 'harassing' you?." She groaned his name and that was all the confirmation that Danny needed. Gingerly, gradually, he leaned his forehead into hers. "I just want to be close. I miss you."

Lacey sniffled, her defenses battered down entirely for the moment. "I miss you too."

"Then let's stop doing this," he pleaded tiredly, "This is the last week of the Tut exhibit. Come with me to New York. We can get a hotel and stay overnight, tour the city in the morning. It can just be me and you."

She allowed herself half a second of temptation before backing up a step. "Yeah, it will just be you and me until Jo calls needing you to rescue her again," she determined flatly, "Been there and done that, Danny. I'm over it."

"So what are you saying? You go out with some random guy thinking that he's going to make you forget about us? Lacey, that's crazy. I can't forget you and I know you can't forget me either."

Rather than waste her time and his trying to convince him to the contrary, Lacey chose the path of least resistance by distracting him instead. "He's not some random guy, Danny. That's Chris."

"Chris?" Danny echoed slowly, his heart already starting to ache with the implication, "You mean as in your ex-boyfriend Chris?"

Lacey jerked a nod of confirmation. "He came all this way because he wants me back," she said, "He wants to get back together."

"And you?" It was clear from his expression and tone that he _hated_ asking the question but he did so anyway because he needed to know the answer.

For Lacey, the answer was clear. She looked Danny directly in his eye and lied. "I'm thinking about it."

He stumbled back a step, his breath leaking from his lungs in a painful burst. "Oh, you are..."

"He's my first love...my first everything," Lacey reasoned dishonestly, "I don't guess I ever got over him completely." It took every ounce of resolve she had remaining to deliver the killing blow. "I care about you a lot, Danny, but...but I'm not in love with you."

"Oh...okay," he replied, clearly eviscerated emotionally by her words, "I...I understand." He started backing away from her, his eyes deliberately averted when he said, "Thank you for telling me. I won't bother you again." Lacey watched him walk away with a vacant stare as what remained of her heart disintegrated into nothing.

She returned to the booth of wooden legs. Not surprisingly, Chris surveyed her with a probing stare as she resumed her seat directly across from him. Lacey mentally steeled herself for his coming question. He wasted little time asking it.

"So who was that?"

Lacey swallowed past the bitter lump in her throat. "The girl is someone I work with at the hospital. We don't get along. She hates me and the feeling is pretty mutual."

"I'm not talking about the girl."

She acknowledged that with a broken sigh. "I know."

"I saw the way you were looking at him...and the way he was looking at you. Seems like you're more than friends."

"Yeah..."

"So who is he?"

"His name is Danny. I met him the first day we moved here, in this very diner actually."

Chris took a moment to absorb that before asking his next question. "Are you together?"

Lacey shook her head slowly, sadly. "Not anymore," she said. _And probably never again_ , she added in her heart.

In the end, however, her reticence on the matter spoke more loudly than words ever could. Chris surveyed her with a penetrating stare. "Is he the reason you don't want to get back together?"

"Chris, does it matter..."

"Be straight with me," he said, thwarting her attempt to preserve his ego, "Is he the reason? Are you in love with him or something?"

She didn't bother explaining to him that it was very possible that she and Danny would never be able to be together or how complicated his life was at present. She didn't reassure him that nothing would ever likely come of her feelings for Danny. None of that seemed to matter in the grand scheme of things because the truth remained the truth whether she and Danny were together or not. That was the very thing that prompted Lacey to respond as honestly and as simply as she could.

"Yeah, actually," she confirmed softly, dropping her eyes as she felt them start to brim with tears, "I am in love with him and I don't think that's going to change any time soon."


	21. Chapter Twenty

**Chapter Twenty**

The beginning of the ride back to Danny's house had been fraught with tension and unspoken resentment. Jo was only able to bear the excruciating silence, broken only by the mechanical whir of the air conditioning, for ten minutes before she finally broke it. "So that was bad in there, huh?" The almost immediate increase in their speed warned Jo of Danny's reluctance to discuss it. Still, she decided to push anyway because his lack of reaction was somehow more frightening than the thought of him blowing up in answer.

So, she tried again, her tone timid and trembling when she asked, "Do you want to talk about what happened back there?"

Unsurprisingly, Danny's jaw tightened at the question. He gripped the steering wheel with white-knuckled intensity as he veered through a sharp turn, making his feelings known long before he flicked her with an incensed glare. "You saw what happened," he snapped in an almost reproachful tone, "What's there to talk about, Jo?"

"But...but you went back," she reminded him shakily.

Danny grunted. He sensed she was waiting for him to elaborate but he said nothing more than, "Yeah, I went back."

Jo found it difficult not to shrink back from the fury contorting his usually amiable features but her desperate need to what was said during his misbegotten conversation with Lacey Porter wouldn't let her drop it. The crushing disappointment and hurt she had felt when Danny suddenly whipped around on the sidewalk and went charging back into the diner had been overwhelming. But the burgeoning hope she had felt when he returned looking every bit as defeated as he had when he had stalked inside left her trembling with hope. She needed to know what had been said...she needed to know that Lacey Porter was out of Danny's life for good.

"You went back and...?" she pressed, letting the remainder of her question dangle as she waited for him to fill in the rest. When he didn't do that, she prodded further. "Come on. You've always been able to talk to me in the past. I'm still your best friend. What did she say to you, Danny?"

Without warning, her words triggered an odd sense of familiarity, a jagged memory that shimmered just on the edge of conscious being. The words echoed in his mind over and over. _I'm your sister. I know when your mind is elsewhere._ He looked over at Jo, her features anxious with concern but she stared back at him with the face of another, a woman with long, dark hair and dark, fathomless eyes. It was a face he could not remember having ever seen before in his life but one that was inherently known to him somehow...one that was precious.

Confused and shaken, Danny shook his head to clear it of the odd, imposing experience, restoring Jo's curling, blond hair and inquisitive blue eyes to his line of vision. She was staring at him with a mixture of concern, impatience and curiosity. Danny turned his focus back to the road but the gesture only aggravated Jo further.

"Tell me what happened," she insisted after he fell back into brooding silence, "What did Lacey say to you back there?"

The harsh reminder of Lacey's stinging rejecting caused Danny to expel a disillusioned grunt. "Does it matter? The end result is the same. She's done with me... _for good_!"

"She...she is?"

Danny swallowed back a bitter laugh. "Oh, don't act so broken up about it, Jo. We both know that's what you wanted all along."

She snapped upright, sensing the embittered accusation in his tone for the first time since their conversation began. "Wait a minute. What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Abruptly, Danny snapped his mouth shut as if becoming aware of the resentment and hatred that was poised to pour forth from his lips right then. "Nothing."

He didn't want to take his anger out on her. She didn't deserve it, not after all she had done for him and was still _doing_ for him. After Lacey broke things off with him initially, he had felt lost, alone and most of all unwanted, unloved. Jo was the one to constantly remind him that he was none of those things. She was the one who helped him sober up in the morning when he spent all of the previous evening out drinking. She was the one who reminded him to show up for class, who lectured him about being a better person, fully convinced that he could be better if he leaned on her. Hell, she had even taken it upon herself lately to mend the tattered relationship between him and his Aunt Tara, seemingly convinced that the elder Desai was softening as she aged.

Jo had been nothing but kind, patient and tolerant towards him while knowing him had left her unmarried and pregnant and estranged from her family. It was beyond unfair of him to make her bear the brunt of his resentment and anger but Danny could feel it building towards her more and more as the days passed. Each time he looked at her and her swollen abdomen, he was reminded forcibly of all the things he had lost and, as much as he wished devoutly that it wasn't so, there was a part of him that hated her for it...and himself as well.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, "I never should have said anything. Just forget about it."

"No, I won't forget about it. She's the one who dumped you and moved on to another guy but you're acting like you're mad at me."

"That's because it's _your_ fault, Jo!" he exploded before he could stop himself.

She blinked at him in owl-eyed astonishment. "What?"

"Don't you get it? _You're_ the reason Lacey and I aren't together!" he yelled in reiteration, "She couldn't handle the baby and she couldn't handle you and that's why she left! She was everything to me and I lost her...because of _you_!"

His words stabbed her all over like poisonous darts, sinking into her figurative flesh with deadly accuracy. She was vigorously reminded of the lies, half-truths and manipulations that had permeated her existence for the past several months but Jo steeled herself against the flood of guilt that threatened to come with it. She convinced herself that everything she was doing was for Danny's benefit and happiness and, therefore, worth it.

Consequently, Jo retreated into a cocoon of self-righteous indignation, her guilt over how she had been manipulating events the last few weeks causing her become defensive. "Danny, that's not fair to me at all! Don't put it on me because Lacey Porter is a coward, okay! I didn't come after you! I didn't even want to tell you about this baby! _You_ wanted this! _You_ wanted to help."

Danny's fury deflated from him without warning with her trembling reminder. "I know that. I know."

"Then why are you acting like I forced you to do this?"

"I don't know."

"I think you do. I think you're mad at me because you can't let yourself be mad at her."

"Lacey hasn't done anything wrong."

"Except prove that she won't stick around when you really need her," Jo retorted callously, "Is that really the kind of person you're in love with, Danny?"

"Stop it."

"Stop what? Telling you the truth?" she spat, "You've put her up on this pedestal, like she's this perfect goddess or something but she's not! She's weak, Danny."

"Stop it!" he snapped with rising vehemence, "You don't know her."

"But I know you! I got a front row seat to you turning yourself inside out to be worthy of her or something."

"That's not how it was," he argued, "I was better because being with Lacey _made_ me better."

Jo shook her head sadly. "She can't be you be all and end all, Danny. Then what's left for me...or our baby?"

Danny dropped his head forward with a low, defeated sigh. "I just wish..."

"You wish what?" she prompted sharply when he drifted off into conflicted silence.

He agonized internally for a few seconds before forcing himself to finish. "Sometimes I wish we had never slept together, Jo. It ruined _everything_ , Jo."

It wasn't an unfair statement. In fact, Jo had entertained the same exact sentiment multiple times in the past several months. Sex with Danny had irrevocably altered their friendship and led her down a road of bad choices that she was still paying for that very day. Countless times, she had wished for the power to go back and undo what they had done. Given that, under any other circumstances, Jo might have expressed agreement with his words and admitted her own feelings on the matter. But the knowledge that he was saying them to her _now_ when he was sitting there hurting and pining for Lacey Porter was more than Jo could handle.

Her hand fluttered to the door handle. "Danny, stop the car."

Danny wasn't deceived by the cool calmness in her tone. He could see by the expression on her face that she felt eviscerated. It was an emotion he was becoming all too familiar with himself. "Jo, come on," he cajoled, his tone soft and coercive in contrast to his earlier bitterness, "I didn't mean that the way it sounded, okay."

"Yes, you did. Stop the car."

"Jo, come on...I..."

"Stop the car, damn it, or I'll jump out while it's still moving!" she cried with rising hysteria, horrifying both Danny and herself when she suddenly flung open the door in looming threat.

"Okay, okay," Danny acquiesced frenetically, "Just let me find somewhere to pull over."

The instant he brought the vehicle to a stop in an abandoned parking lot, Jo threw open the door and took off in a run. However, her ungainly figure prevented her from getting very far and Danny caught up with her in just a few strides. He swept his arms around her waist and held her wriggling form fast against him, loosening his hold only when her struggle began to wan and her twisting was replaced with quiet sobs. His murmured apologies beating warmly against her temple only renewed her desperate desire to get away from him. Without warning, she ripped out of his loosened hold and spun to face him, her hands fisted at her sides, her hair bristling like an enraged phoenix.

"God, Danny, I don't even know why I bother! You're such an asshole, do you know that?"

"You're right. I was wrong to lay all the blame on you. It took the two of us to make that baby. I'm sorry, Jo."

"This isn't about the baby!"

"Then what?" he cried in frustration.

"How does it feel?"

"What?"

"To be me," she replied with a ironic peel of laughter, "Now you get it. Now you know how it feels to love somebody with everything inside of you and have them reject you every...single...time. Even when you want to walk away and forget all about them, you can't. It's like a sickness that eats at you from the inside. Doesn't feel too great, does it?"

Danny fell backwards a step, his shoulders stooping forward. "No."

"So then, why do we keep doing it?" Jo wondered aloud, "Why can't you let her go, Danny? But, more importantly, why can't _I_ let _you_ go?"

"Jo, I..."

"Stop!" She held up her hand in a firm gesture for silence. "I'm speaking now." When she was certain that she had gained his silence and undivided attention, Jo began pacing in small circles, speaking more to herself than to Danny. "I know I'm being an idiot because you're never going to see me that way but...I can't stop wanting you to see me that way, Danny. I can't stop hoping for the day that you will."

"Please, Jo..."

"And you _had_ to have seen me that way, just a little bit at least, or what would have happened between us would have _never_ happened," she rambled on. And then she pinned him with wild blue eyes. "You told me once that you _wanted_ to feel those things for me, that you wanted us to be together."

"I was wrong about that."

"Why? Why were you wrong? We've known each other our whole lives. I know everything about you, Danny, good and bad and I haven't walked away. We made a baby together. Who says that we can't be a real family?"

"Jo," he uttered in the gentlest of tones, an attempt to soften the blow his next words would cause her, "I'm in love with Lacey."

"But she doesn't love you," Jo concluded without flinching, "Does she?"

He glanced away, his jaw tight when he answered, "No. She doesn't."

Danny was so mired in the agony that verbal admission caused him that he was wholly unprepared for the moment Jo closed the distance between them and pressed her lips to his. At first, he was too shocked by the realization that she was kissing at all to push her away but, as he quickly became aware of what was happening, Danny quickly grasped her by the shoulders and pulled back. Jo stared up at him with wet, beseeching eyes.

Shaking his head sorrowfully, Danny took several steps back from her, dragging the back of his hand across his mouth as he did so. "You shouldn't have done that."

"Because you're afraid you might start to like it?" Jo challenged.

"Because it doesn't change anything," he replied sadly, "I'm still in love with Lacey whether she returns my feelings or not."

"And what does that get you?"

"What does it get _you_?" Danny countered in a pointed tone, "Why do you expect me to change my feelings when you obviously can't change yours?"

"It's not the same," Jo argued, "You and I have history. We're having a baby together. We're connected. You barely know Lacey! She's nobody, Danny!"

"She's mine!" he retorted before he could stop the words, surprised by the depth of assurance and possession that pervaded his words.

Jo froze, her blue eyes becoming positively glacial as she regarded him. "What did you say?"

"She's mine," Danny reiterated in a softer tone, "She's in my heart. I can't change that."

"But you can't make her love you either."

Danny jerked his head in agreement. "You're right."

"And, according to you, as long as me and the baby are in the picture, she wants nothing to do with you."

"That's right."

"So...are you planning to abandon us then?" Jo demanded softly.

Danny surveyed her with a sharp look full of hurt. "I wouldn't do that to you, Jo! Don't you know that?"

"I'm just saying that means that you and Lacey are truly done. Right?"

"Right."

"So then, what's wrong with moving on from it?" she asked, gradually closing the space between them as she spoke, "What's wrong with letting her go? She's with someone else now, Danny, and you and I are expecting a baby. Wouldn't it make more sense to try, to build on what we already have between us?" She stopped when they stood within mere inches of one another and placed both her hands on his shoulders, angling an imploring look up at him. "I'm not asking you to love me, Danny. All I'm asking you to do right now is _try_." She slipped her fingers from his shoulder to the nape of his neck, her finger threading in the silken hair she found there. " _Please_..."

This time Danny knew that the kiss was coming and he didn't resist her. He let his eyes sink closed and he gave into the kiss, pulling her closer as her lips parted against his. But it wasn't Jo's mouth he tasted or Jo's hands he imagined tangling in his hair. It was Lacey's. He wanted her hands, her lips, her touch and, ultimately, that truth was the thing that prompted Danny to break the kiss altogether. He had a difficult time looking at Jo after that which was the reason he missed the sparks of hops shining in the depths of her eyes following that kiss.

She smiled at him. "That was a good start, don't you think?" she asked softly.

"I think I should get you home," Danny replied, avoiding the subject of their kiss altogether, "It looks like it's going to rain soon."

By the time they reached the Desai estate, the ominous storm clouds that had begun to gather while Jo and Danny argued in the parking lot had become a torrential downpour. It hadn't escaped Jo's attention on the way there, however, how introspective and quiet Danny had seemed. She hadn't pressed it though. While it smarted that he seemed to want to avoid talking about the kiss they had shared, Jo could understand the reason behind it. There could be no denying the passion that had exploded between when they kissed. Jo had been more than a little taken aback by Danny's fervor and she suspected that he might feel the same. It was little wonder to her that he would be trying to reconcile that with his lingering feelings for Lacey Porter.

That was the very reason she didn't argue with him when he requested time alone to think. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, it seemed that things were finally beginning to go her way. Unfortunately, Jo had very little time to savor her small victory. Her self-satisfied smirk quickly became an aggravated frown when she spied Tara Desai's approach from across the foyer. She obediently followed the older woman into the large, palatial study located underneath the winding portion of the staircase and closed the door behind them.

"You look pleased with yourself," Tara noted as she took a seat behind her desk, "Does that mean you've convinced Daniel to sign over his assets to me?"

"It's not that simple," Jo snapped, "You can't overturn years of harsh mistreatment in a week! Be reasonable."

Tara regarded her with a cool stare. "You seem to be making inroads with him just fine."

"I started from a good place."

"Don't become too sure of yourself, Ms. Masterson," Tara warned her, "If you double-cross me, I will make you regret it."

"If you out me to Danny then we both lose," Jo replied in a show of bravado, "Without me encouraging him, he will _never_ trust you."

"Did no one ever warn you about biting the hand that feeds you?"

"I never asked you for anything!" Jo spat, "You're using an awful situation to blackmail me!"

"Not at all. I'm allowing your horrific lie to my nephew to continue."

Jo raised her chin proudly, feeling strangely empowered following Danny's kiss. "I'm not the one who stands to lose everything here. If you tell Danny the truth, he may never speak to me again," she considered quietly, " _Or_ , he might forgive me. Danny has an incredible capacity for forgiveness and love. But, even if he doesn't forgive me right away, I know one day he will...because he loves me.

"But who loves you? What do you have, Tara?" Jo considered thoughtfully, "Your brother is your puppet. Your nephew despises you. And the thing that you want most? Your father's company? You will _never_ have that at all. I'm not the one who stands to lose everything. _You_ are. So back off!"

To Jo's frustration, Tara rewarded her warning monologue with mock applause. "My, my, my...it seems my little sparrow has grown teeth."

"I'm not your little anything! This isn't a partnership! You've been harassing me for weeks and it stops now! Stay away from me or I'll make sure Danny throws you out of this house."

"It never turns out well for the people who cross me, Ms. Masterson," Tara warned her coldly, "You will soon learn that."

"You don't scare me. I meant what I said. If you keep coming after me. _I'm_ the one who will make _your_ life a living hell!"

After she was gone, Tara made a single call. "There's been a change in plans. It appears I'm going to need you after all," she murmured to the person on the other side of the line, "I'll let you know when the time is right."

Unaware of the firestorm that she had just set in motion, Jo made a beeline for Danny's room with some half-formed plan of telling him the truth before Tara could but the words stuck in her throat when she found him packing. Her brows snapped together in a confused frown. "Are you going somewhere?"

"There's an exhibit in New York on Tut," he explained as he continued gathering his things, "This is the last week and I can get extra credit if I attend and write an essay on my experience. I need that extra credit or I'm going to flunk World Civ."

Jo nodded towards the bag on his bed. "You're planning to stay overnight?"

"Just a couple of days. I want to take some time to clear my head."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

Danny snapped upright, sparing her a darting glance. "I don't know if that's a good idea, Jo," he said, "I'm pretty confused at the moment. I don't want to give you mixed signals."

"Confused about Lacey or confused about you and me?"

He lifted his shoulders in a helpless shrug. "I'm confused about all of it, Jo."

"But you're willing to try...right?" she pressed, an unvoiced plea in her tone, "That's all I'm asking for, Danny."

He looked at her again, assailed anew by her pregnant form, and the weight of his obligation settled over him like a heavy cloak. He found it impossible to crush her, not right then, not when she had so much hope for them...so much that it made him hope a little as well. There was a hollow, fathomless void that had taken up residence in his heart since his last encounter with Lacey and Danny wanted to believe with every fiber of his being that Jo and the baby she carried could fill it. He'd die from the pain otherwise.

"Yeah, of course," he said, crossing the space that separated them to peck a quick kiss to her lips, "I'm willing to try."

Her mouth curved in a relieved smile and she slumped forward, half grateful for his agreement as well as the reprieve she had from telling him the truth. She wasn't so foolish that she didn't recognize that his actions were being driven by duty. But perhaps, Jo thought desperately, if she waited long enough, that none of it would even matter.

Clinging tenaciously to that hope, Jo banded her arms around Danny's waist and hugged him hard. "Okay then. I'll see you when you get back. Everything will be different then."

"Yeah," he sighed in agreement, brushing a rueful kiss across the rumpled top of her head, "Everything will be different."


	22. Chapter Twenty One

**Chapter Twenty One**

Danny glanced up from his glossy, folded program and immediately caught his breath. There was an instantaneous, undeniable flare of joy when he saw her. He couldn't help that. But, all too soon, that joy was replaced by a heavy dread that settled low in the pit of his stomach. Danny suppressed a longsuffering groan when she started to approach him, not because he didn't want her near him but because he couldn't imagine that having her near him would end very well.

Consequently, within those fleeting, few seconds, Danny quickly regained his self-possession and tried to prepare himself for the confrontation that was likely coming. Danny reflexively drew his hand through the tendrils of hair that had escaped his untidy bun and schooled his features into a stony mask, grateful for the sun glasses he hadn't yet removed because they masked the chaotic emotions brimming in his eyes. Driven by the need for self-preservation, Danny didn't even give Lacey an opportunity to speak before he was defending himself.

"Before you start in on me, Lacey, I'm not following you. I'm just as surprised to see you as you are to see me. Besides that, I have just as much right to be here as you do."

Lacey recoiled a little from the resentment simmering beneath his words. She might have been a little reassured if she could see his eyes and know for herself if they matched his tone but he kept his sunglasses stubbornly in place, leaving Lacey no choice but to guess about his emotional state. His less than welcoming attitude was almost reason enough to cause her to go scurrying back in the direction from which she had come.

Yet, her obstinate determination to set matters straight between them kept Lacey rooted in place. This misery between them had gone on for far too long already. She reminded herself that her cowardice and indecisiveness was the reason he was reacting to her with such frosty detachment right then and she'd never have an opportunity to fix things between them if she ran away. It seemed almost like providence that they would even up together that day and Lacey didn't want to waste the gift she had been given. When she considered the alternative, the thought of leaving things so unfinished and wrecked between them, it wasn't a difficult decision for her to stay where she was and take every ounce of resentment he had.

"You can relax. I wasn't coming over here to accuse you of anything, Danny," Lacey reassured him softly, "You're a lot of things but 'stalker' isn't anywhere on that list."

"And yet I seem to remember being threatened with a restraining order," he reminded her pointedly, "So you'll forgive me for being a little guarded."

"And I can see you're still upset about that-,"

"-Nope."

"Danny, come on," she half pleaded, half cajoled, "You know why I said that to you, just like I'm sure you know that I never had any intention of following through."

"No, actually I don't know anything," he contradicted rather snidely, "Least of all about you."

She winced at his terse implication but plowed along nonetheless. "Okay, I deserved that. I made a mistake, a _stupid_ mistake and I'm sorry, Danny. I'm sorry I ever said that to you."

Rather than diffusing his anger and tension, her words seemed to worsen matters. Danny shrugged, his expression somehow becoming even _more_ remote than before. "It doesn't matter anymore. What's done is done, right?"

Trying not to be disheartened by the finality in his tone, Lacey continued with forced brightness, "I was going to call you, you know."

"Why?"

She peered at him with a confused little frown. "To talk. To make things right between us."

"I'm really not in the mood for a pity speech, Lacey, so you can save it."

"I'm not trying to give you a pity speech. I just don't like how we left things." She gestured between the two of them. "I don't like this tension between us."

"I didn't put it there."

"You're right," she conceded, " _I_ did and I want to make it right...if you'll let me."

He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and shrugged once again. "Lacey, you don't need to atone for anything. Whether you give me a pretty, heartfelt speech or not the end result is still the same. We're done."

Rather than address that and consider the possibility that she might have pushed him too far, Lacey changed the subject altogether. "It doesn't feel like we're done. I mean, look at us right now," she rambled on nervously, "It's just ironic, don't you think, that we'd both end up here on the same day, at the same time?" She looked at him with wide, beseeching eyes. "When I looked up and saw you standing over here, I knew it meant something. It feels almost like it was supposed to happen this way...like it was Fate."

Danny's mouth quirked in an embittered smile. "Right, Lacey. We both know you don't believe in that."

"I never said that. It just all seemed very improbable to me back then. That's all."

"Don't get defensive. It's not a judgment. You had a point after all. It was improbable and Fate definitely didn't bring us together. I see that now."

Lacey mewled inwardly at how hollow and broken he sounded. "Danny, please...I don't want it to be like this."

"That's news to me," he scoffed, "because the last time we talked you made it pretty clear that you wanted me to leave you alone! I respected your wishes. I don't call you or talk to you or even text you so, I don't really know why we're having this conversation right now."

For the second time in a five minute span, Lacey had to fight the urge to slink away to lick her wounds. He had every right to be angry with her after all. She had pushed him away, shut him out and finally broken his heart. She knew it...just as she knew she had been wrong about it all. That day after their last confrontation in Johnnycakes when he had ultimately walked away, she had mustered up the dignity to ask Chris to take her home.

Once there she had shut herself in her room and cried out tears of regret and confusion until there were no more tears left inside her. When it was over and she lay sprawled across her rumpled bed, emotionally and physically exhausted, she had been left with the question that Clara had asked her earlier that morning. _Does it suck more to be with Danny or to be without him?_ Stripped bare of her every defense in that moment, Lacey had come to the answer with ease. It definitely hurt worse to be without him.

But coming to that conclusion in her heart and expressing it aloud to Danny were two very different things. Every time she considered picking up the phone and calling him, she inevitably chickened out. She thought about showing up at his house but when she considered the fact that he lived on a fenced, security monitored estate that didn't seem like such a good option either. Not to mention the fact he just flat out seemed like he didn't want to talk to her at all. If his attitude with her presently was any indication that was very likely how he felt.

Lacey swallowed, her tongue suddenly feeling as if it had swollen twice its size in her mouth as she worked up the courage to tell him everything in her heart. She didn't necessarily want to hash out the intimate details of their private angst right there in the middle of the Metropolitan Museum of Art with dozens of patrons to serve as onlookers but the rigid line of his shoulders and folded arms made Lacey fear that this might be her last chance with him. She definitely didn't want to squander it.

On trembling knees, she stepped even closer to him, so intent on what she was about to say that she missed his sharp intake of breath with her sudden proximity. Her voice was barely above a whisper when she asked, "Do you think that..." She darted a self conscious glance around at the crowd pressing in on them and closed her eyes, inhaling deeply before finally blurting out, "Could we please go someplace else and talk? There's a lot I want to say to you and I don't really want to do it in the middle of a Tut exhibit."

"Honestly? No. I think I've heard all I want to hear from you, Lacey," Danny replied with a terse shake of his head, "Besides, I need to be here. My grade is in the toilet and I need the extra credit. So, even if I wanted to blow this off, I can't."

She fell back a step, visibly staggered by his admission. "I...I didn't know you were failing. You never said anything about having trouble with the class."

"I wasn't having trouble with the class. I was having trouble with _you_." While she floundered verbally for something to alleviate the growing acrimony between them Danny tossed a cursory glance over her shoulder and asked almost blandly, "So where is he anyway?"

Lacey blinked at him, still reeling from the vitriol that soaked his every word. "Where is who?"

"The boyfriend. You didn't bring him with you today? What happened? Trouble in Paradise already? Did you dump him too because he didn't measure up?"

"That's not fair."

"You're right. It isn't fair. It's not like you owed me anything, right, Lace? You weren't in love with me...not like I was with you." She was still gasping inwardly at the visceral blow that his past tense phrasing caused her when he added, "You know, you actually did us both a favor."

"I did? How is that?" she replied woodenly.

"You were right. I did need to focus on Jo and the baby. So it's good that you and the other guy are giving it another go because that was the final thing I needed to wake me up."

"Wake you up?"

"Yeah. To what I need to do and who and _what_ deserves my attention and my loyalty." He paused for a split second before announcing without fanfare, "You and the other guy have a history just like Jo and I do. It makes sense, given the circumstances, that we explore what that could mean. So, Jo and I are going to work on being a real family and I probably would have never agreed to that if it weren't for you."

"What did I do?" Lacey wondered aloud in a dull tone.

"You made me see that we weren't 'meant to be' after all. It was just attraction between us and nothing more. Life isn't a fairytale."

To hear him spout out such a cynical outlook when she knew how idealistic and romantic he'd been in the past, caused a physical ache to take up residence in Lacey's chest. With each word he spoke, he was chipping away at her soul, much the way she imagined she had chipped away at his. She felt like she was drowning, struggling again and again to come up for air only to have Danny figuratively dunk her beneath the surface again and hold her there. She was gasping for breath, _fighting_ for it but the more she fought, the deeper she sank. "So you're going to be a _'family'_ with Jo?" she echoed in a tone that even sounded garbled to her ears, "What does that even mean? Are...are you guys are together now?"

"We're trying to see where it goes." Unaware of the visceral anguish he was dealing her in his efforts to protect his own heart, Danny unknowingly worsened her pain with every subsequent word. "So you don't need to feel guilty about what happened between us, Lacey. You can stop trying to salve my ego. Yeah, it hurt and that really sucked for a while but... You did what you had to do. And now I'm doing what I have to do."

"And that's to be with Jo," Lacey concluded in a hoarse whisper.

"Yeah."

She glanced away then, wanting to conceal the tears that were beginning to well in her eyes. "Okay."

"Okay." Danny stared down at his shoes, oblivious to her dejected profile because he was too busy trying to conceal his own misery. "Listen, it doesn't have to be awkward between us while we're here," he reassured her, "Just so you know, I booked a tour today so we can avoid each other completely. So, don't sweat my being here, okay?"

"Sure...sure, I won't sweat it..." Lacey managed in a pained whisper, "That's good really. Then it won't have to be so awkward."

She said that, not because she believed her statement was even remotely true but because it felt like pure agony being near him right then. She didn't know if she wanted to scream or vomit. Her stomach churned. Her chest burned. She seriously feared that she might burst into hysterical tears at any possible second. Only her determination to hold onto her stubborn pride allowed Lacey to keep her rioting emotions in check.

Instead, in an attempt to regain her emotional bearings, Lacey focused with single minded intensity on a stone pillar decorated ornately with Egyptian hieroglyphics and bit her lower lip hard to keep it from trembling. She couldn't look at him, _wouldn't_ look at him, not when she wanted nothing more than to throw her arms around him and feel his arms around her. If she looked at him she was going to lose it.

Danny, unfortunately, took her inability to make eye contact as tacit dismissal and agreement. By her lack of reaction, Lacey inadvertently confirmed his most niggling fear, that she had only approached him out of pity and guilt. He straightened his shoulders with a heavy, resolute sigh. "I guess that's it's then." Just as he said the words, he caught sight of his tour guide and his group from the corner of his eye and noted that they were starting to gather in preparation for the tour. He didn't look at her when he said, "Well, I gotta go. I'm glad we got a chance to clear the air between us. Take care, Lacey."

"You too," she said in reply but, by the time she did, he already had his back to her and was walking away.

Lacey felt gutted in his wake. She watched as he was swallowed into the milling crowd that consisted of his excited tour group, her expression... _her entire being really_...completely shattered. In that moment, Lacey couldn't even cry. She was too numb. In a twisted way, she had gotten exactly what she wanted only to realize too late that it hadn't been what she wanted at all. She had pushed and pushed for him to be with Jo, telling him again and again that it was his responsibility, that he needed to make them his priority and now that he had done those things Lacey just felt sick.

In hindsight, she could see that her actions had little to do with Danny doing the right thing and everything to do with her fear that he would eventually leave her...just as her father had done. And so, she had made up her mind to leave him first. _She_ had made that decision and now _she_ had to live with the consequences.

Her every instinct blared at her to walk out of that museum right then and there and forget that she ever knew Daniel Desai but that would be too easy. Her pride wouldn't allow her to do it, however. If he could move on from her with such ease then, Lacey thought bitterly, then she would be damned if she wouldn't attempt to do the same.

However, that wasn't Lacey's sole motivation for staying. Something deeper compelled her to remain behind even while she couldn't strictly identify what that something was. All she really knew that, while there was the part of her that wanted to be impervious to his presence, there was also the part of her that _needed_ to be near him. So, she would watch him from afar for the one to two hours they might have together and she would stay and enjoy an exhibit they once might have enjoyed together and then afterwards, when the day was done, she would somehow find the strength to let him go for good.

Lacey began her tour on stilted legs, just fifteen feet behind Danny's tour group. At first, she took very little note of the collected treasures because she was too preoccupied with watching the back of Danny's head as it weaved in and out of her line of vision. He never looked back at her, at least not when she was aware of his perusal. Consequently, the two spent the first twenty minutes of the exhibit stealing longing glances at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking.

Eventually, however, their furtive game was brought to a grinding halt when Danny's group took a special detour reserved solely for those who had booked the tours and Lacey had no choice but to continue on her own. It was only then that she truly began to peruse to delicate pieces of ancient artifacts on display but, by that time, Lacey felt like a thick cloud of gloom had settled over her. She wandered around for the next forty-five minutes in a virtual fog.

Before a complete hour had elapsed, Lacey began to feel very ill. Inexplicably, her head began to pound, bringing with the throbbing intermittent waves of nausea and dizziness. She managed to stumble from one display to another, telling herself that the sensation would pass and that she only felt so shaky because she hadn't had a proper meal. Yet, with every step she took, she became more and more fearful that her legs would give out from underneath her.

It was only when her vision began to flicker and the ground beneath her feet alternately transformed from gleaming polished tile to hot, shifting sands that Lacey realize, with dawning horror, that she was beginning to hallucinate and needed to sit down. Her headache intensified to the point of nearly blacking out, Lacey lurched on tottering legs for the nearest stone bench so that she could sit down and reorient herself. As she did so, the scenery around her morphed from an upscale, modern museum to rolling sand dunes that seemed to go on endlessly.

Lacey sank down onto the bench and closed her eyes, mumbling to herself in a panic because she was quite sure she was having an emotional breakdown right there in the middle of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. When she opened her eyes again, the desert had thankfully receded. However, directly in her line of sight was a display featuring an earthen ware mortar and pestle. The instant Lacey laid eyes on it she felt as if a current of electricity had run through her entire body.

She was suddenly jarred by a fresh onslaught of visions, a rush of fragmented images all revolving around that bowl. She could see her own hands diligently grinding down medicinal herbs with urgent efficiency only for the image to change to her filling that same vessel with clean water and then lifting weathered bowl to parched, cracked lips and the eyes staring back at her were dark, full of gratitude and so hauntingly familiar. Danny's eyes...

Her neck awareness was a strange man, a museum attendant leaning over her. Lacey could only suspect that something had gone terribly wrong because he was shaking her with fearful urgency and there was a small crowd of concerned patrons gathered behind him. "Miss? Miss? Are you alright?"

Blinking slowly, Lacey regarded him with bleary eyes, vaguely aware of the crowd's murmured considerations about calling 911. Horrified at the thought, Lacey pushed herself into an upright position, groaned pitiably as she did so. "No, no, don't do that," Lacey told them as she massaged her still aching temples, "I don't need paramedics. I'm fine."

She tried to stand and the attendant immediately lurched forward to steady her. "Maam, I don't think you should do that just now," he told her, "You passed out."

Lacey surveyed him with a befuddled frown. "I did?"

"Yeah, you did. One minute you were just sitting over here and the next minute you were slumped over. I managed to catch you before you hit the floor."

"Oh. Well, thank you."

"Can I call someone for you? Do you have family here?"

Lacey shook her head. "No. There's no one. And I'm fine. I just haven't really eaten today and I got a little dizzy." Almost out of nowhere, a concerned patron materialized at the attendant's side with a snack and a drink. He passed them to Lacey and she murmured a soft "thank you." Both the patron and the attendant stayed in place until she had finished everything and they were sure she could stand on her own without assistance. She waved them off with a polite smile. "I'm really okay," she reassured them both, "You don't have to hover."

The attendant acquiesced to her insistence with great reluctance. "I still think you should see a doctor," he told her, "Ask for Ted if you need anything else."

After he was gone, Lacey frowned to herself. She doubted that there was anything seriously wrong with her but this was the second time she had fainted in less than six months and both times she'd been having bizarre hallucinations right before. She doubted that was a coincidence. And it was that doubt that ultimately spurred her to continue, not simply out of cursory interest but because she desperately needed answers. She knew instinctively that she would find them there. Her theory was confirmed when, as she continued the exhibition, everything she saw became more and more familiar to her. Each minute she spent there seemed to cause her headache and dizziness to recede a little more.

Eventually, she came across a terracotta goblet, that had been handcrafted for enjoying beer, which had been a staple in Tut's time period. Without warning, another "memory" came to her but Lacey was better prepared for that one. She could see herself in a tavern, buying two beers that had been poured into earthen goblets similar to the one before her and delivering one of them to a surprised and smiling Danny. Only it wasn't Danny at all...and strangely, it was. It was his first time having a beer, his first time making trade and her first thoughts of him was that he was hopeless. Quite beautiful, but hopeless nonetheless.

It was a good memory that made her smile even while she couldn't completely understand where it had come from. But it felt right. And for that reason Lacey continued on, growing less and less confused as the memories came to her, one after another after another, oddly comforted by them rather than alarmed. The picture was becoming clearer and clearer by the moment, as if a canopy of cobwebs were being cleared from her mind and the truth was finally laid bare.

By the time she came to the display of a woven blanket, thick and coarse and colorful, Lacey was smiling broadly, both in recognition and nostalgia. She knew without reading the notation that it had been hand woven from camel hair just as she knew _how_ to weave it and dye it as well. The corner of her mouth turned up in bittersweet smile as she stooped down for closer inspection, her mind wandering to a similar blanket. She could clearly see their naked bodies pressed together, undulating rhythmically, bundled together in the fabric, hands racing over each other's skin in the gleaming moonlight and his voice, soft and urgent against her cheek, gasping her name. _Suhad_.

Her name was Suhad. The realization hit Lacey with the force of a barreling locomotive. Once upon a lifetime, she had been a small, village girl from Amurru and she had held the heart of a pharaoh in her hands. She snapped to attention as all of the pieces abruptly fell into place. She _was_ Suhad. At the same time, she was still Lacey Porter but, in another lifetime, she had also been a girl who had unknowingly fallen in love with the ruler of Egypt. And _Danny_...Danny was... Lacey's eyes widened with incredulous wonder with the understanding.

"Oh my god," she uttered to herself, both incredulous and amazed all at once, "Oh my god!"

She spun on her heel and began walking purposefully through the museum, winding her way quickly around milling patrons as she searched each and every corner for some sight of Danny. All the while her mind was churning, filling to an overwhelming degree with memories and emotions that were too numerous to count, recollections that had been dead for centuries of time. And somehow, she knew innately that if she was remembering all that they had been to each other then very likely Danny was remembering as well.

Lacey's wild search came to an abrupt halt when she found herself directly in front of the exhibition that housed the particular treasures that had been excavated from Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb. It was a special section of the exhibit that had been marked off especially for Tut's personal artifacts. Lacey read the inscription at the entrance, her heart aching with the realization that the remnants of her dead lover's tomb lay ahead of her. And yet, he wasn't dead at all. He had managed to find her again. Despite, time and space and above all odds, they had found each other.

She took her first tentative steps into the interior of the exhibit, barely inside before she came face to face with the display of his royal dagger. Like everything else she had seen that day, Tutankhamun's once prized possession was kept behind thick, scratch resistant glass and cradled in place by two metal hooks that were situated on opposite ends of the dagger. The hand-crafted, bejeweled hilt had long since faded with age, the gold that had once gleamed so brilliantly now tarnished and weathered but the memories it evoked in Lacey remained powerful despite its muted beauty.

If she closed her eyes she could clearly picture Tutankhamun in her mind, bedecked in all his royal finery, his head lifted haughtily, the dagger sheathed protectively at his waist. She could well remember how he used to rest his slender fingers against the grip, as if always prepared for an imminent attack. He had grown so mistrustful of those around him after returning to Thebes that Lacey could scarcely remember a time when he had been without the royal heirloom. It seemed supremely wrong to her that it should be housed behind glass rather than with its rightful owner. She lamented that he might have been without its protection for any period of time in the afterlife.

"The last time I held that dagger, I used it to kill the high priest Amun." Lacey spun around at the abrupt intrusion of his words, her reply lodged in her throat as she regarded him. For the moment, it felt like they were the only two people in the world even through there were at least several dozen people scattered around them. "I don't expect you to remember that though," he continued softly, "You had already died by then."

Lacey didn't make a reply to that, mostly because she was uncertain if he knew the details of how she had died and she wasn't entirely keen on choosing that moment to tell him. She wanted to run to him right then, to throw herself into his arms and hold him and never let go but fear that all of this might somehow be a dream conjured up by her desperate mind kept her rooted in place. Instead, she asked him, "How much do you remember?"

"I remember everything," he told her earnestly, "I remember how much we loved each other and how we parted much too soon. I remember feeling like everything that mattered in my life died when you did."

"Khaten..."

He smiled at her then, a wobbly, crooked smile that had been all too rare in his first life. "I told you that you were wrong."

"Wrong about what exactly?" she volleyed back in amused challenged.

"The gods, Suhad. They _do_ answer. Don't you see? They heard us both and they answered."

She couldn't hold back any longer after that. She rushed forward into his waiting arms, her breath escaping her in a grateful sob when she felt him close her tightly in his embrace. Both were impervious to the spectacle they were making. None of it mattered, not when they were holding one another again. She buried her face in his neck, inhaling his scent as if acquainting herself with it for the first time in hundreds of years. In a way, that was exactly what she was doing.

"How is this even happening?" she whispered, "I don't understand."

He brushed a kiss across her temple. "Neither do I," he whispered back, "But honestly, I don't care why it's happening. I'm just glad that it is." He pulled back to frame her face in his hands and pressed his mouth to hers in a brief but impassioned kiss. "Now that I've found you again, I will _never_ let you go."

"Neither will I," she promised fervently as she found his lips once more, "Neither will I."


	23. Chapter Twenty Two

**Chapter Twenty Two**

"Don't you know that it's impolite to stare?" Lacey grumbled as she snuggled deeper into her pillow.

Danny, however, was undeterred by her late afternoon grumpiness. He smiled down at a still half-slumbering Lacey and gently traced the tip of his finger down the slope of her nose. "I can't help it," he whispered, "I still can't believe you're here with me right now. I don't think I'll ever get tired of looking at you."

Though her words were muffled in the bedding, Danny managed to make them out just fine. "I look exactly like I did this morning."

"The same way you did more than 3000 years ago." She went still at his quiet observation and peaked out at him from beneath the pillow. "How does that even happen?" he wondered solemnly.

"I think I look a little different," Lacey argued weakly but even she had to admit that his resemblance to his former self was uncanny.

"Your hair is a little different...not as curly as it had been then," he agreed, "But your face...that hasn't changed at all. I've never forgotten your face."

"I didn't forget yours either."

He grinned at her then, that charming, lopsided grin that she had missed had missed so dearly. "Now you know why I can't stop looking at you," he quipped lightly, "You don't look half bad for a 3000 year old dead woman. You're like the 8th wonder of the world or something."

Made a little self-conscious by his teasing as well as his unabashed adoration, Lacey rolled her eyes and attempted to rebury her tousled head beneath the pillow. Her efforts to hide were thwarted by a laughing Danny. He plucked the pillow from her hands and flung it away, ignoring her protests over being left exposed in the warm orange glow of the late afternoon sun that spilled in from his hotel window. She glared at him in exasperation but quickly spoiled it by smiling. The happiness glowing in the depths of his eyes was ridiculously infectious. Lacey felt her grin widen.

"What is going on with you? Why are you being so weird? You're acting like this is the first time you've seen me in centuries," she yawned in reminder, "Until very recently, we had been spending practically every day together."

He abruptly sobered with the question, his features soft with reverie when he said, "I guess because, in a way, it _does_ feel like I'm seeing you for the first time in centuries. I'm seeing all of you for the very first time. I understand what this _really_ means now."

She didn't need for him to explain what he meant. Lacey well understood the confusing mix of emotions that was currently plaguing him because they were plaguing her as well. Earlier that morning, when they had found themselves standing within six feet of one another in the very room that housed 3300 year old mummy, seeing one another again had been too overwhelming. She hadn't been able to register anything beyond kissing him again and holding him again and reaffirming her love and commitment to him again. Rather than talking about the present or sorting out how they had even been bestowed with such an incredible gift in the first place, she and Danny had instead made a hasty rendezvous to his hotel room at the very expensive Carlyle and had spent all of that afternoon in bed together.

But, now that the hunger to connect physically and emotionally, had been momentarily satisfied, the true enormity of their situation was beginning to settle on Lacey in gradual stages. While it was true that they were star-crossed lovers who had been torn apart thousands of years ago by duty and circumstances that extended beyond their control, Lacey couldn't ignore that _in the present_ they remained just the same...star-crossed lovers torn apart by duty and circumstances beyond their control. She might have laughed at the irony if it didn't feel so heartbreaking.

Danny watched with a disheartening sigh as the smile faded from Lacey's lips and knew without asking the reason that it had. "Don't worry," he assured her, scooting closer to pull her more tightly into the warm crook of his body, "We'll figure it out."

"How can you say that?" she mumbled, "As miraculous as all of this is, nothing has really changed since the last time we were together, Danny."

He angled an incredulous look down at her. "How can _you_ say that?" he countered, " _Everything_ has changed, Lacey."

She fingered the fluttering pulse at the base of his throat, unable to argue with his point. "You know what I mean," she grumbled at last.

Danny ducked his head low to feather a kiss across her parted lips. "Yeah, I know." He tugged her closer as he dragged his mouth on a meandering path across the curve of her jaw and the elegant arch of her neck. "Can't we talk about it later though?" he whispered against her skin, "I just want to stay right here in this moment with you...in this bed. I don't want to think about anything else."

Lacey sifted her fingers through his tousled hair with a sad, little grunt, unable to give herself over completely to the stirring sensations he was creating. "I'd like that too. But I can't forget that when we're done here the reality will still be with same," she mumbled thickly, "You're with Jo and you're having a baby with her."

He lifted his head then, his straight, dark brows drawn together in a frown. "I'm not with Jo."

It was then Lacey's turn to frown. "That's not what you told me when we were at The MET."

"No. I said I was _thinking_ about the possibility of getting with her for the baby's sake and no other reason." Lacey rolled her eyes yet again at his lame clarification. Danny grunted in affront. "Hey, I'm not the one with the boyfriend," he reminded her tartly.

Lacey winced guiltily but not for the reasons Danny imagined. "Yeah, about that..." she began hesitantly.

Danny tensed beneath her and abruptly rolled away, a disconcerted scowl darkening his features. "Forget about it," he muttered, "You don't owe me any explanations about that."

She caught hold of his arm when he would have risen from the bed. "What are you talking about?" she cried softly, thoroughly confused by his sudden change in attitude, "Of course, I want to explain to you, Danny."

Shaking his head in refusal, Danny gently tugged his wrist from her grasp. "There's nothing to explain. You said you didn't have feelings for me like that. Remembering our past together shouldn't change that. I know you didn't love me like I loved you."

"Is that why you think I'm here right now?" she demanded, "Because of what was between us three thousand years ago?"

He stared down at her sorrowfully. "You and I were robbed of a life together...of a family and a future," he reminded her gruffly, "We should have had _years_ to love one another and we didn't. I don't blame you for getting caught up in that, Suhad. But that doesn't change the fact that you don't love me _now_."

"You're an idiot." The pronouncement was resolute, unequivocal and earnest.

Danny blinked at her, half caught between a guffaw and a grunt. "What?"

"If you can't figure out by now that everything I said about not loving you was an absolute lie, I don't know what to tell you." She wilted back into the rumpled sheets with an exasperated groan. "My God, you're more obtuse in this life than you were in the last." She had to suppress her relieved grin when Danny stretched out beside her once more and gathered her close.

"So basically you're saying that you love me after all...right?" he prodded with an almost boyish smile.

"You catch on fast, my pharaoh."

His answering laugh was muffled against her throat. A moment later, he chanced an entreating glance up at her. "It would still be nice to hear the words though."

Lacey cradled his face in her hands and brought him closer for a tender kiss. "I love you," she whispered, "I loved you then and I love you now. I'm starting to think I'm going to love you forever."

Danny nuzzled against her, his smile growing as he said, "Hmm...I like that. But it's probably going to make things pretty awkward for your boyfriend."

His irreverent response had her shoving him away with an aggravated laugh. "God, you are such an ass!"

He favored her with a smug smile. "But you love me anyway. Too late. You said it. No take backs, my love."

She tugged him back against her for another kiss. "I wouldn't dream of it."

Without ever breaking their kiss, Danny started to shift on top of her, his hands coasting across her naked skin in urgent caresses when a thought suddenly occurred to him. They were hopelessly tangled together when he suddenly lifted his head, breaking their passionate exchange. "You have to break up with him," he determined a little breathlessly.

Lacey looked up at him with glassy eyes, still a little dazed from his urgent kisses and, therefore, not immediately following his line of thought. "Wh...what? Who?"

"Chris. You have to call him tonight and tell him it's over."

She flinched at the mention of her erstwhile lover, especially right then when she and Danny had been writhing against each other only moments before. "Danny, I think I should-,"

"-Listen, I know it's going to suck," he interrupted before she could say more, "I know that the feelings you have for him are probably complicated but...this is _us_ and we feel pretty inevitable. It's not right to string him along, not when we both know how this will end."

"I'm not stringing him along."

"So he'd be okay with the fact that I had you all over this hotel room?" Danny challenged, "Cause, I gotta tell you, Lace, _I_ wouldn't be okay with it. You can't be with us both."

"Actually, I don't have any intentions of doing that," Lacey huffed out, "Since I'm not with Chris in the first place."

Danny frowned at her confession. "What? What are you saying? You're not with him?" When she shook her in answer, Danny tried to roll away from her but Lacey wouldn't let him. She banded her arms tight around his waist and pressed her cheek against his bare back.

"Don't be pissed off. I never said that he and I were back together," Lacey quickly reminded him, "You just assumed and I...let you."

He stopped struggling against her hold but his back remained rigid. "Do you even know what that did to me?" he asked in a strangled tone, "I felt like I was drowning."

She brushing a reassuring kiss across his shoulder blade. "I know," she whispered, "I'm sorry. That was the only way to keep you from coming after me. You weren't going to stop otherwise."

After what seemed like an eternity, Danny began to relax in measured increments. He angled a look down at her from over his shoulder. "Would that have been so terrible?"

Lacey slowly untangled herself from his body. "You're the one having a baby with another woman," she reminded him brusquely, "You tell me." She flopped back into her pillow and crossed her arms obstinately. "I suppose that's become a pattern for you."

He dropped his head forward in chagrin at her embittered words. "That's not fair."

"I can't say I'm very interested in being fair at the moment."

"This isn't how I planned things, not then and certainly not now."

"And yet it keeps happening!" she flared in return.

"You have every right to be angry."

"You think?"

At that point, he swiveled around on the bed to face her fully. "You're right. I've placed us in an unbearable situation _again_. But...I don't love her. I never have. I love _you_. I want _you_."

"You didn't love Ankhesenamun either," she pointed out glumly, "but, in the long run, that didn't matter much, did it? You still chose her."

Danny dropped his eyes then, unable to bear the accusation reflected back at him from hers. "Stop making it sound that way. I didn't choose her. It was duty. It was responsibility to my family...to my ancestors. It was always that."

"Is that what it is with Jo now?" Lacey wondered aloud, "Just duty?"

"It's...it's..." Danny floundered off into silence, struck by his inability to categorize exactly what he shared with Jo at all when a realization slowly dawned on him. "Oh no..." he groaned under his breath as he recalled the last time conversation he'd had with Jo and the memory that had accompanied it. He slumped forward with yet another long-suffering groan. "It's her," he whispered, more to himself than to Lacey, "How did I not know it was her? How could I have missed it?"

"Missed what?" Lacey pressed in anxious confusion, "Who are you talking about?"

"Jo. I think Jo is Ankhesenamun."

Lacey understandably recoiled from that theory. She shook her head in denial. "No. No! You're wrong." Yet, even as she said the words, she could remember the instinctual mistrust she held for Jo almost since their first meeting and she could believe it. She'd harbored a similar uneasy sense the first time she had met Tutankhamun's queen.

"It makes sense," Danny argued on, unaware of her thoughts, "Sometimes when I'm with her, there's a familiarity I feel that goes way beyond the time we've known each other in this life. It's always been like that the entire time I've known her. And recently, I've even begun having memories with her. I thought at the time that they were visions but now I realize that they were memories. She's my sister." He laughed to himself in wonder and irony. "Jo is my sister."

"Why am I not surprised?" Lacey grunted unhappily, "We can never escape that woman."

"Now it all makes so much sense," he rambled on, "Why I felt protective of her from the very beginning and why I always felt so close to her."

"And why you slept with her," she finished for him tartly, "Old habits die hard, I see."

He surveyed her with a contrite expression. "I'm not trying to hurt you with this," he murmured, "But this is an incredible thing. I can get a second chance with her. We can have the relationship now we should have had back then."

"You mean while she's pregnant with your baby?"

Danny groaned anew as the implications settled on him completely. "I can't believe it. I've made the exact same mistake in two different lifetimes!"

"I'm not surprised," Lacey considered, "If you're remembering your past now then it's possible that Jo has remembered as well. Ankhesenamun was a manipulative and calculating woman. I don't expect that she's changed too much in this life." The more she spoke, the more irritated she became until her every word was laced with seething acrimony. "It's no wonder you've found yourself in the exact same position with her. Knowing her, she probably planned it that way."

"That's not true," Danny protested weakly, "She's not like what you imagine. Not then and not now."

"You're speaking out of affection and loyalty but you don't know what she's capable of," Lacey warned him darkly, "She's an evil person." When he started to protest, she pressed her fingers to his lips to stifle his words. "You don't know what she's done," she said again, "And I don't know any other way to open your eyes than to say it. She _killed_ me.

"When you were away fighting the Mitanni, your sister came to your bedroom and attacked me," she informed him in a fervid tone, "I'm quite certain she murdered me that night...and our unborn child. _That_ is the woman you're defending." It was only after she had finished speaking that Lacey realized his features hadn't registered even a flicker of surprise at her revelation. The realization that he already knew the truth and yet continued to defend his sister filled Lacey with revulsion. She gasped, reflexively clamping her hand over her mouth as waves of nausea poured through her.

She scuttled from the bed, taking the rumpled sheets with her and wrapping her body in them as she stumbled back several steps. "Are you telling me that you knew?" she demanded in a hoarse whisper, "You knew what that heinous bitch did to us and yet you continue to defend her?"

"It's complicated."

Lacey emitted a teary, incredulous snort. "Like hell it is! Murder is not complicated!"

"You're right. And when I returned from my military campaign with the Mitanni I felt how you feel now," he told her, "All I wanted was to see your face again and when I came home, I found you lying there...gone. The pain was indescribable. That night, I ordered that Ankhesenamun be put to death. I was devastated by your loss."

She looked away from the pleading in his eyes, her jaw tight with anger. "So devastated that you apparently forgave her."

"I was severely injured during the battle. I was _dying_. And in those moments, when I was alone and scared and in more pain than I've ever known in my life, I wanted my family. I wanted my sister. She had been there for me for my entire life, Suhad. How was I supposed to forget that?"

Lacey assimilated what he was telling her with a rough swallow. "She was with you when you died?"

There was an agonizing beat of silence before he answered with a throaty, "Yes."

She bit her lip to stifle the sob that threatened to erupt from her throat. "I can't believe this. She tried to _kill_ me, Khaten, countless times until she finally succeeded! How could you let that go? In what world is that okay?"

"I'm not saying that it is," he replied mildly.

"You're not acting like it isn't either," she retorted.

"You're getting worked up. Suhad, please calm down and let me explain."

"Stop calling me that!" she snapped wildly, "That's not my name! We're not those people anymore though God knows we seem hell-bent on making their same mistakes!"

"That's not true."

"Isn't it?" she challenged, "Once again you're shackled to your sister, blinded by misplaced loyalty and surrounded by people you mistrust and despise. Exactly what has changed?"

" _I've_ changed," he emphasized fiercely, "I'm determined not to make the same mistakes that I made in the past. I won't let it end for us the way it did before."

"But you already have made those mistakes," Lacey reminded him miserably.

"I didn't know then but I do now. I can't change what I've done in the past but I can affect our future."

"Our future?" she scoffed, "Do we even have a future together? How am I supposed to move forward with you when you still allow _her_ to be a part of our lives? That's unacceptable to me."

"The circumstances aren't remotely the same," Danny argued, "Back then, Ankhesenamun had to secure her position as queen by producing an heir or she would have faced certain death. She was frightened and desperate and losing Ka only caused her to spiral further. She lost herself for a while and I did not help matters when I brought you back with me to Thebes."

She glanced at him sharply, her gaze accusing. "Are you saying you regret doing that?"

"I'm saying that the times were difficult and she's not the woman you think she was."

"You mean the woman _you_ think she was," Lacey clarified flatly, "Think for a moment! You've done the research. I know that you're aware of the historical reference and that the last child Ankhesenamun miscarried, the one that was supposedly _your_ child, was nearly five months gestation when she lost it. Historians wouldn't know the exact timeline but _we_ do because _we_ were there. You weren't back in Thebes long enough for her to have been that far along."

Danny's breath leaked from his lungs in a painful wheeze as the pieces of his past knowledge and present understanding converged into a complete picture. "Ka," he uttered finally, "The baby must have been Ka's. She was pregnant before he died." He thumped his fist against the mattress in a sudden flare of anger. "How could I have been so stupid?"

"Don't blame yourself. She likely counted on your trust to see her through. She deliberately let you believe that it was your child. She _manipulated_ you into believing it."

He winced, remembering the pain he had caused Suhad when he'd submitted to Ankhesenamun's insistence that they create another child. The delayed grief he felt over his sister's monstrous lie hit him with the forcing of a battering ram. He felt physically ill in that moment. It was his inconsolable anguish that finally softened Lacey enough to go to him and wrap her arms around his shaking frame.

"I'm sorry you had to be disillusioned this way. But you have to realize that you can't trust her. Not then and certainly not now."

"But I can't hold her responsible for sins she committed over 3000 years ago," he considered gruffly, "Sins she might not even remember."

"That doesn't mean that you should blindly trust her either." Danny stared up at her with wet, welling eyes. Lacey cradled his face in her hands and asked as gently as she could, "Can you be absolutely sure that baby is yours?"

"I was her first. I know I was."

"But you told me before that you were drunk that night and you don't remember the details clearly."

"I don't," he admitted, "I just remember kissing her and there are some vague images of us naked on a bed, me touching her and then the next morning when I woke up she was there beside me. I never doubted what she told me...that we had sex that night. There was no reason to doubt her then."

"Do you think it's possible that she lied to you?"

"I've honestly never considered it before this moment. Now I don't know what to think." He buried his face in her belly with a mournful groan. "I feel like I don't know anything anymore."

She sifted her fingers through the tousled top of his head before bending lower to kiss him there. "We'll take it one step at a time."

He jerked his head in a nod of agreement. "One step at a time."

"You have to get a paternity test," she advised him, "It's the only way that you can know for sure if Jo's baby is yours."


	24. Chapter Twenty Three

**Chapter Twenty Three**

Jo glanced away from her computer screen for the third time in a ten minute span to check her cell phone for missed calls. Focusing on her English Lit term paper, which was due in two days, was proving to be a futile effort because she couldn't concentrate on anything besides the fact that it had been more than 24 hours since she'd last heard from Danny. Matters were only worsened when she considered the times _she_ had called _him_ and had been taken straight to his voicemail. Either he wasn't answering his phone or he had turned it off altogether. Her mood wasn't improved at all when she when she, once again, found her call screen blank of all notices. Jo huffed in frustration. _Where the hell was he?_

When he'd first suggested taking some time away to clear his head, part of Jo had been relieved and grateful because his absence had offered her a temporary reprieve from her every present deceit. Lying directly to Danny's face, day after day after day was proving to be an increasingly difficult task. However, when she considered the alternative, the idea of simply telling him the truth altogether, Jo wasn't certain if she could bring herself to do it. She and Danny had come so far in their relationship. Jo certainly didn't want to do anything that would cause them to backtrack now. That was the very reason that Danny's radio silence was causing her so much anxiety. She had absolutely no idea what was going on inside of his head right then.

While she was glad that he was beginning to struggle with some confusion concerning his burgeoning feelings for her, Jo didn't want him to spend too much time on his own thinking about it. Lacey Porter hadn't fallen off the face of the earth after all. He was bound to see her in class and around town and it would only be a matter of time before the two of them were attempting to reconcile with one another. Jo had come too far and sacrificed too much of herself to allow that to happen, especially for some girl that Danny had known less than six months!

But it was getting harder to maintain her confidence, the longer it took him to call. The Tut exhibit had long since ended. Ostensibly, Danny should be on his way back from New York by now so Jo couldn't imagine what could have possibly waylaid him. He didn't really know anyone in New York and he had been there at least a dozen times prior so there really wasn't any reason for him to linger in the city.

Briefly, she entertained the wild notion that he might have gotten arrested or even hurt while in New York. She was well aware that Danny still struggled against given into some of his baser proclivities. What if his attempt to score some exotic drug had gone wrong and he had been hurt as a result or even killed? What if he had overdosed again? What if he was lying in an alley somewhere dying and there was no one there to help him?

Jo gave herself a firm mental shake before her mind could go wandering down that rabbit hole entirely. Danny was not dead. He had not overdosed. He wasn't in jail or in trouble with the law. He was being an insensitive jerk by not checking in with her but he was okay. She would give him another 24 hours before she even let herself consider otherwise. In the meantime, she had to focus her attention elsewhere, keep preoccupied with circumstances she could control. Working on her term paper had seemed like the perfect distraction. Unfortunately, Jo's concentration was shot.

Even if she hadn't been agonizing over Danny and his current whereabouts, she had plenty of other problems that were weighing just as heavily on her mind. Her father had recently called a ceasefire to the cold war between them and requested that she come back home. While Jo would have happily jumped at the chance to go back a few weeks prior, she couldn't help but belabor her father's rotten timing now. Of course he would ask her home just as she and Danny were beginning to get somewhere in a romantic sense. That would all be shot to hell if she went back home now.

So, if it wasn't enough to have her parents breathing down her neck about when she would come home and _why_ she wasn't, she also had Archie breathing down her neck about paternity. The more she progressed in her pregnancy, the more adamant he became about having a paternity test to definitively determine the baby's father. Keeping him at bay was an added stress she couldn't afford and had left Jo understandably on edge. As if she didn't have enough to deal with having Tara Desai keenly scrutinize her every move.

Although Danny's aunt hadn't spoken a word to her since their last seething confrontation, Jo wasn't naive enough to believe that was the end of it. Tara was biding her time, waiting for the most inopportune moment to strike and Jo knew it. That was another reason Jo needed Danny to define what they were becoming to one another. The sooner he made up his mind, the less leverage Tara would have over her.

She picked up her cell phone again, silently willing it to chime to life with Danny's familiar ring tone. "Come on, Desai," she muttered aloud, "Don't leave me twisting like this." As if yielding to that fierce plea, her cell suddenly vibrated in her hands. Danny's name had barely illuminated across her screen before she was clicking into the call. "Where the hell have you been?" she demanded tersely before he could get a word in edgewise, "I've called you like three times! What's the matter with you?"

There was a tense beat of uncomfortable silence before Danny answered. "Yeah...ah...I'm sorry about that. My cell phone died and I packed everything except my charger."

Jo slumped forward in her chair with a weary groan. "God, Danny, you scared the crap out of me! I didn't know if something might have happened to you or what."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to worry you."

"Forget about it. I'm just glad you're okay. Are you on your way home now?" she asked in restless follow-up.

Another awkward pause ensued before he answered. "Not quite yet. I want to spend another day here in the city."

Jo frowned at her phone in disappointment and confusion. "Wait. You're not coming home?"

"No. I met up with an old friend here and we're catching up."

"Danny, I swear...if you're hanging out with one of your knuckle-headed drinking buddies, I'll-,"

"-Calm down," he interrupted quickly before she could go on her ranting tangent, "It's not what you're thinking."

"How do you know?" she challenged, "Because I think you're maybe avoiding me right now."

He choked out a nervous laugh at the question. "Why would you think I'm avoiding you, Jo?"

"Because we kissed before you left and you've been acting weird ever since."

His answer came in a soft expulsion of breath. "Right."

"Do...do you regret it?" she managed to choke out.

"I don't know what I feel," he told her, "But this time I've spent away has provided me with some clarity about a lot of things and I think it's important that you and I establish some ground rules between us."

A curious tingle began at the back of Jo's neck with his words. "Ground rules?" she echoed, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that we haven't done any of this right. We had sex without dating and now we're having a baby without a relationship," he told her, "We never even took the time to really sit down and talk about what was happening between us. Everything is backwards with us."

"I'm trying to change that,' she reminded him, "I want to talk. You're the one who seems reluctant."

"I'm just trying to do things the right way."

"And what's the right way?"

He paused again, filling the silence between them with the sound of muffled shifting before he blurted out, "I think you should have a paternity test."

Jo nearly dropped her phone in shock. "What? What did you say?"

"We should...we should have a paternity test done," he said again, "I think it would be for the best."

Because she couldn't acknowledge the fear his suggestion evoked, Jo took refuge in righteous indignation instead. "What are you saying to me right now, Danny? Do you not trust me? Do you not think this baby is yours? Are you trying to back out of your responsibility?"

"It's not about that at all," Danny rushed to reassure her, "It's about protecting you and protecting the baby. My Aunt Tara cannot be trusted. I wouldn't put it past her to try and screw our child out of his or her inheritance. But if we _legally_ establish that the baby is mine, there's no way she can touch any money that I set aside."

"We could always get married," she joked shakily, "She definitely couldn't contest the baby's paternity then."

"Jo, I'm being serious."

"So am I. People get married all the time and they barely know each other!" she argued desperately, "We're best friends and we're having a child together. Let's just get married and that will be all the legality we need."

"No. It's a bad idea. You know it's a bad idea. Why are you so resistant to having a test done?"

"I'm not resistant! It just...it feels like you don't trust me."

"I already told you that's not what this is about."

Hardly mollified by his reassurance at all, in fact, she became even more panicked, Jo abruptly switched her tactics. "Danny, don't you think you're being a little paranoid? Your aunt has been nothing but kind and gracious to us lately. She's not plotting to steal our baby's inheritance."

"You don't know her like I do. Tara has an angle. She always does."

"I can't believe she would go after our baby. No one is _that_ twisted."

"Tara is _that_ twisted. She doesn't consider our child to be a true Desai at all," Danny told her, "If she sees the baby as a threat, she'll make trouble."

"But a paternity test..." Jo protested weakly.

"It's just a formality. We both know that I'm the father. A paternity test will only legally establish that."

Jo didn't feel the first waves of true, unrestrained panic until after the call had ended. Only then did she begin to hyperventilate. With her clammy palms clenched into reflexive fists, Jo surged from her desk chair and began a frenetic pacing across her bedroom floor. She didn't know if her anxiety and fear was making her paranoid or if she really did detect a hard note in Danny's tone when he said, "We both know that _I'm_ the father." What she did know for sure was that she was mere seconds away from a full blown meltdown.

This was the worst thing imaginable! Danny wanted a paternity test. His intentions were reasonable and logical and responsible, all of the things that Jo had wanted him to be but the irony was that, now that he was being those things, she hated it. None of it mattered at all because... _Danny wanted a paternity test._ And, if he got it, he was going to destroy everything. Her carefully constructed house of cards was beginning to topple and Jo could do little else but stand aside and watch it fall. She was alternately pulling at her hair and biting her nails, wracking her brains for a solution or some way to change his mind, when Lepa meekly poked her head beyond the door.

"Miss Jo?"

Jo cut her with a wild glance. "What now?"

"You have a visitor downstairs."

Five minutes later, when she entered Vikram Desai's study, Jo wasn't even minimally surprised to find Archie waiting for her. Her day was shaping up to be one destined for disaster. She carefully closed the door before facing him with a facade of calm she didn't feel.

"I would ask you what you're doing here," she sighed wearily, "But we've had this conversation so many times that it's starting to feel scripted, Archie."

"We need to talk."

Jo shook her head firmly, her lips thinned into a stubborn line. "I've already said everything I have to say."

"I haven't!" he retorted angrily, "My friendship with Danny is shot. We barely speak and for what? He doesn't love you, Jo! It's never going to work out the way you want it too. You have to know that he's in love with someone else."

"No, that's over. They broke up. Danny's going to be with me now."

"Is that what he told you?" Archie glanced towards the door, as if he meant to rush past her and stalk up the stairs to confront Danny on the matter right then and there. "He wants to be with you now? I wonder if he'd still feel the same way if he knew that you and I slept together... _more than once_!"

"Would you stop throwing that in my face?" she hissed.

"No, I won't! Because you wanted me! You and I had something together, Jo. But you can't let go of this fantasy you've built up in your head!"

"It's not a fantasy," she muttered haughtily, "Danny and I _will_ be together."

"And that's what you want?" Archie bit out, "To be with a guy who doesn't love you, who will _never_ love you because he's hung up on someone else? To pass off another guy's kid as his? That's the life you envision for yourself?"

Jo sucked in a sharpened breath at the embittered accusation. "I already told you that-,"

"Save it!" he snapped before she could finish, "I know the truth, Jo! I know the baby is mine. I've always known. But, I was so stupid and naive, I actually thought that you would come to me. I was trying to give you time to come to me. Now that I see that's not going to happen..."

He trailed off into silence then, putting his words into action as he started to walk past her towards the door with the obvious intention of finding Danny and telling him the truth right then and there. Jo caught hold of him before he could reach the door, banding her arms tightly around his waist in an effort to waylay his efforts. It was difficult to hold him fast due to the girth of her waistline but Jo managed to do so through sheer determination.

"Don't do this," she begged him pitiably, "Please Archie, don't do this to me!"

Disgusted, he wrenched out of her arms and spun to face her with glittering blue eyes. "For the record, I'm not the one who wanted it this way! _You_ did this, Jo!"

"He's not here!" she cried out behind him when he threw open the door, "Danny's not here, so you're wasting your time!"

Archie froze mid-step and slowly pivoted to face her with a mistrustful smirk. "And where is he?"

"Like I would tell you so that you can rush to ruin my life?" Jo scoffed, "No, thank you."

He choked out a mirthless laugh. " _I'm_ ruining _your_ life? Wow. That's a laugh, Jo!"

"You're just doing this because I rejected you," she accused him.

"I'm doing this because I won't let my kid be raised by a junkie and a delusional psycho!"

"This is _not_ your baby."

"You lying bitch," he seethed, "I can't believe I ever thought I loved you!"

"And I can't believe you ever called yourself Danny's friend!" she spat out in return, "I can't believe we ever trusted you! I always knew you weren't any good for him!"

"Why? Because I didn't kiss his ass and support his every asinine decision? Or because I didn't have an angle when he and I were friends?"

"I don't have an angle."

"Like hell you don't! You've been scheming to get Danny into bed ever since we were in high school!"

"Stop making it sound like that! I love him! You know that!"

"You love the _idea_ of him! You don't even know who the hell Danny is, Jo!"

"Shut up! You don't know anything! You've always wanted him to fail!" Jo accused, "Don't deny it! Let's be real, Archie. You've _always_ wanted what was his! That's the whole reason you went after me in the first place."

Archie shrugged, not even bothering with a denial at that point. "Danny has it all. But he's too blind, too stupid and too selfish to appreciate what he's been given," he intoned gruffly, "That's fine. I can't save him. I stopped trying a long time ago. But I will be damned if I stand aside and watch him raise my kid. It's not happening."

"If you do this, I will never forgive you," Jo warned him, "We're done, Archie. You can't come back from this."

Not even remotely cowed by the threat, Archie raked her with a scathing once-over devoid of the tender feeling he'd once had for her. "I'll risk it. I'll be staying at my grandmother's in the meantime. You have 24 hours to tell Danny the truth or I will."

After he was gone, Jo's entire frame wilted. She braced herself against a nearby table, sure in those breathless few seconds that her knees were going to give out from beneath her. She was losing everything in systematic order, as if it had been set into motion by design. But beyond the anxiety and fear, she knew she had to come up with a plan. She couldn't just stand idly by while her life burned to the ground. Danny was going to find out the truth one way or another. Jo knew that the sooner she accepted that, the sooner she could turn her attention to doing damage control. These latest events weren't at all welcome but they didn't have to be disastrous. She could still save what was left. If Danny was going to learn the truth then he would get her version of it and no one else's.

For now, however, there was nothing she could do but wait. Danny was still in New York and he wouldn't be home for another day. Archie had promised to give her 24 hours. She would have to come up with something in that timeframe. In the meantime, though her life was quickly degenerating into rubble around her, that didn't mean that she should flunk out of her classes as well. At least, _that_ was something that she could still control.

She trudged upstairs once again with some half-formed plan to finish her English term paper. When she encountered Tara on the landing, she was too weary to verbally spar with her at all. However, as she started to sidle around the older woman and head towards her bedroom, Tara caught hold of her forearm in a punishing grip. Jo glared at her with irate eyes.

"What do you want, Tara?" she bit out as she jerked her arm free, "I'm not in the mood!"

"We had a deal," Tara reminded her in a cool tone, "If you think I'm going to allow you to renege on that, think again."

"There is no deal! We're done. It's over. I plan to tell Danny everything when he comes back from New York."

Tara blinked at her in momentary, speechless disbelief. "You're bluffing."

"Not at all."

"You stupid ingrate, my nephew may be worthless but he's no idiot! You'll lose everything!"

"No, _you'll_ lose everything," Jo countered tersely, "You'll lose your one means of manipulating Danny! That's almost worth telling him the truth."

"The only person you will be harming is _yourself_ , Ms. Masterson. Your hopes of making Daniel love you will be forever ruined."

"I think we've had this conversation before," Jo mocked, "You were wrong then and you're wrong now. I will make Danny understand why I did what I did. We have more than ten years of friendship between us. We've been through hell together. But what do you have?"

"I've warned you once about threatening me, Ms. Masterson."

"It's not a threat. I'm going to tell Danny everything, including the part where you bullied and blackmailed me into keeping my silence when I wanted to tell him the truth. And he'll believe it because you're a snake and he doesn't expect any better of you."

Tara's eyes narrowed with the implication. "You lying little bitch."

Jo shrugged, seemingly unaffected. "That seems to be the general consensus today. But that still doesn't change the fact that _I'm_ the one with the upper hand here."

"You're making an error in judgment, Ms. Masterson," Tara warned.

"No! You made the error! I told you that if you kept coming after me, I'd make your life hell." Jo spared her a dismissive glance before turning away altogether. "You brought it on yourself."

As she started to flounce away, Jo wasn't prepared for the moment Tara grabbed hold of her arm once again and threw her down the steps. Her initial yelp of terror as she teetered on the edge was silenced when she tumbled violently, head over feet, down the entirety of the winding staircase until she landed at the base of it, bloody and motionless. Tara stared down at her broken form with impassive eyes, for a moment, seeing the image of another woman who had lain broken at her feet some years prior. "Haven't you figured it out by now?" she muttered to the empty space Jo had occupied mere moments before, "I _always_ get what I want...one way or another."

Tara shook off the memory of her past misdeeds as she started down the steps, her gait incredibly calm and poised, as if she had not just potentially killed another human being. Jo's body was hopelessly mangled, twisted in grotesque angles that guaranteed fracture and serious internal injury. With a satisfied smirk, Tara toed the younger woman's broken body with the tip of her glossy, black stiletto only to grunt in frustration when she realized Jo was still breathing...just barely but it was detectable.

"You really are a bother," she told Jo's unconscious form as she reached for her cell phone, "You couldn't just die right away, could you? You have to draw this out." She made the first of two calls, one that she had been anticipating making for several days now. The recipient answered on the first ring. "He's in New York. I'll provide you with the details later. Do it tonight and make sure the body's never found. Then you'll get the remainder of your money." When that was done, she idled for a few moments before placing a compulsory call to 911, adopting the appropriate facade of a frantic aunt who had just found her nephew's unconscious girlfriend on the floor.


	25. Chapter Twenty Four

**Chapter Twenty Four**

"Do you think she believed you?" Lacey pressed anxiously after Danny ended his call to Jo. It was difficult to discern what he was thinking based on his facial expression. In fact, he seemed rather stoic at that moment, even perhaps a bit dejected.

He turned briefly to place his cell phone on the nearby nightstand. "She seemed like she did. She agreed to the test but she didn't sound too happy about it."

"I'll bet she's not happy. You're about to blow her lie apart." When Danny said nothing in reply to that, Lacey noted the telltale flickering behind his eyes, his only betrayal of the internal anguish he was feeling right then. She reached over to touch his bare shoulder in a gesture of comfort. "Are you okay?"

Rather than answering that directly, Danny forced a smile. "Shouldn't I be asking you that question? I'm not the one who just got my ass handed back to me by my mom. Are you sure you don't want me to take you back?"

Lacey shuddered when she recalled the screaming rant her mother had delivered to her only ten minutes before Danny had placed his call to Jo. She had deliberately put off talking to her mother as long as possible, content to lounge about in Danny's borrowed underwear with an equally half-naked Danny until Danny himself had prodded her into doing otherwise. After they finished lunch, a lazy round of lovemaking and a steamy shower together that Lacey insisted was needed absolutely needed to fortify her courage, she finally put an end to her procrastination and made the call.

Judy Porter had been less than thrilled to learn that her teenage daughter was planning to stay overnight in New York with her ex-not ex-boyfriend. Judy had also been rather indignant over the fact that it had taken Lacey the better part of the day before she had informed Judy of her plans. Before that, she had been going out of her mind with worry for her errant daughter. And, while Lacey felt guilty over having caused her already stressed mother yet more undue stress, she was much too concerned with Danny to yield to her mother's bullying to return home, no matter how much trouble it caused her in the long run.

"Don't worry about my mom," she reassured him, "I'll handle her when we get back to Green Grove. She'll be fine. I want to know what _you're_ thinking right now."

Danny scooted back against the headboard of the bed and drew his knees to his chest. He was silent for a few seconds after that, as if he was planning his next words with extreme care. Finally, he said, "Listen, I know that you believe Jo is a manipulative bitch-,"

"-She is," Lacey inserted without qualm.

"But," Danny stressed with a pointed glare, "I don't think she's capable of something like this. She can be petulant and petty when she's angry and maybe a little spiteful on occasion but she's not cruel. And lying about something like this...that would be cruel, Lacey. It's not her."

While she was in firm disagreement with every word he'd just said, Lacey could still sympathize with him for feeling the way he did. She shifted next to him on the bed and laid her head against his shoulder. "You're struggling with this."

He made a scoffing sound at her murmured insight. "You think? She's my best friend, Lacey! She's been my best friend all of my life! Hell, she's been my best friend in _two freaking lifetimes_!"

"And she did this to you once before," she reminded him gently.

"Yeah, when she was terrified and alone and after I had just murdered the father of her baby right in front of her," he muttered.

Lacey snapped upright, her brows knitting together in an incredulous frown at his words. "Why does it sound like you're defending her right now?"

"I'm not defending her." The denial was weak, however, and Danny knew it. More importantly, _Lacey_ knew it. Her scowl deepened.

"We're talking about a woman who murdered the woman you loved and your unborn child in cold blood," she reminded him brutally, "Yes, centuries of time have passed since then but she hasn't changed! She still looks at me now the same way she looked at me then, Danny."

"And how's that?" he wondered aloud softly.

"Like I'm a threat. And if there's one thing I remember about Ankhesenamun, it is that she is at her most dangerous when she feels threatened."

"But that was then," Danny argued, "We're not those same people anymore."

"Aren't we?" Lacey challenged.

He snapped his mouth shut when he realized he had no counter to her words, unable to deny the stark similarities between the lives they led now and the one they had shared in the past. "I just have a hard time believing that we've been given this second chance just so when can repeat the exact same mistakes all over again," he muttered finally.

"I think this is our chance to _learn_ from them," Lacey considered softly. She reached over to stroke his tousled hair back from his forehead. "I know this is hard for you. You've had a lot to take in and in a very short time frame," she soothed, "But none of this is your fault. She abused your trust. She is the one who lied."

" _If_ she's lying."

Her fingers stilled against his temple. "After everything that's happened, do you honestly think she's not?"

"I'm saying we don't have all of the facts. Not yet."

Lacey pulled her hand away completely and regarded him with a stony expression. "You want it to be true, don't you?"

Sensing that she was angry with him, Danny immediately retreated to the defensive. He scowled at her. "Of course, I don't want it to be true that she's lying to me, Lace! God! Can you not understand that?"

"That's not what I'm asking. I want to know if you want Jo's baby to be yours?" Lacey demanded flatly.

Danny gaped at her. "What?"

"You heard me."

"You're being ridiculous."

Lacey stiffened with gathering affront. She crossed her arms in challenge. "I don't think I am." At that point, Danny rolled from the bed with a disgusted snort. Frustrated further, Lacey said at his back, "It's a valid question!"

He pivoted to confront her. "No, it's not! You were there when I found out the truth about Jo's pregnancy! Did I seem happy to you?"

"No," Lacey conceded quietly, "You were terrified."

"I'm still terrified!" Danny said as he began to pace the hotel room restlessly, "A baby is the last thing I wanted. I don't even know what it means to have a family, let alone what it takes to be a father! I don't know even know what the hell I'm doing!"

"But you want it," Lacey concluded gently with dawned understanding, "You want this baby."

He came to kneel beside the bed then and gathered Lacey's hands in his own, his eyes silently pleading with her to understand. "All of my life, my father has been mildly supportive and distant at best," he explained, "My mother died when I was practically a baby. Her parents want nothing to do with me. My own aunt despises me. Everything I know about family is what _Jo_ taught me.

"Whenever I got arrested, _she_ was my first phone call. When I woke up in the hospital groggy and strung out, _she_ was the first face I saw. When I was feeling alone or scared or confused, _she_ was the person I talked to about my deepest, personal feelings. I can't just write that off, Lacey!"

Though her heart was pounding with a myriad of emotions during his fervent monologue, Lacey schooled herself to remain calm. Nonetheless, she tugged her fingers from his desperate grasp and asked with as much poise as she could muster, "Do you love her?"

"I've told you before. I love her and I love the baby," he admitted gruffly, "But I'm not _in_ love with her and what I feel for her doesn't even begin to touch what I feel for you."

"And what do you feel for me?"

"You're my world, Lacey. You're everything. You drive everything I do and you _always_ have." As Lacey started to relax with his ardent avowal, Danny's next words reintroduced the tension to her shoulders. "But you should know that...um...when I thought you and I were done that I...that Jo and I..."

"Please don't tell me you slept with her," Lacey groaned in longsuffering, "God, don't tell me that, Danny."

"No! I kissed her. That's all. We kissed."

"You kissed?"

"Once," he rushed to clarify, "And it was a mistake. She thought it meant something but all it did was confirm for that I wasn't over you."

"So why are you telling me?"

"If we're going to be together, there can't be any lies between us, Lacey," he said, "It was never like that between us before and it can't be like that now."

"Before I just meekly accepted the fact that you had a life with Ankhesenamun and I was on the periphery of that life but not this time. Not again. I won't be your 'side ho,' Danny."

"My what?" he choked, half in laughter, half in horrified disbelief.

"You know exactly what I mean."

"That's not what's happening right now. In that first life, I was obligated to Ankhesenamun. I was married to her."

"You're obligated to Jo now. That baby makes you obligated."

"So, do you believe Jo is lying because that's the truth or because that's what you need to believe?" Danny challenged softly.

Those his words were quiet and free of accusation, Lacey took offense at them regardless. "I believe she's lying because she is!"

"Lacey, come on-,"

"-Either she's faking her pregnancy completely or she's passing off another man's child as yours."

"Well, she's not faking the pregnancy, that's for sure."

At that precise instant, Lacey had to check the impulse to slap him. She glared at Danny with narrowed eyes. "Is that your roundabout way of confessing that you've seen her naked?" she accused tautly.

"Swimming," he clarified meaningfully, "We have a pool and I've seen her in her bathing suit." Lacey wilted in relief at his admission and the reaction saddened Danny a little. "My God, Lacey, do you not trust me at all?" he asked her mournfully."

"I'm _trying_ to."

" _Trying_ ," he echoed in mild disgust, "That's the best you can do? Then, if you don't trust me, what the hell was this afternoon all about? Why did you come back here with me, why did you sleep with me at all when that's how you feel?"

"I love you, Danny. You know that. That's why I'm here."

"Love doesn't go very far when there's no trust, Lacey."

"Do you blame me?" she flared, "I trusted you with my heart over three thousand years ago and you broke it. Not only that, I ended up _dead_ for my trouble! I've trusted you in this life too and it's been one gut punch after another! You'll have to forgive me for being cautious!"

"You think I turn your life upside down," Danny concluded glumly.

"You do." But when he started to roll to his feet in defeat and walk away, she added, "And that's not always a bad thing." He looked up at her with hopeful eyes. "I like how you throw my world into so much chaos," she told him fervidly, "For the most part, it's a _good_ chaos. I just wish you didn't always come with so much baggage," she finished with an ironic laugh.

He emitted a short bark of laughter as well. "Yeah, me too." All too soon, however, the lingering traces of mirth faded from his features leaving him solemn and pensive once more. "So you really think Jo is lying about the baby?"

"I'm positive."

"I hear what you're saying but...it doesn't make sense to me," Danny muttered, more to himself than to Lacey, "I know her. She's dated a few times but she's never been serious about anyone, except me apparently. If she had slept with someone, I would have known about it. We talked about everything."

"What about after the two of you got together?"

"It was rocky for a little bit between us," Danny admitted, "And maybe a little before that too, when I got sent away to school. I guess things were tense between us back then too. I guess we weren't as close as we had been before."

"So then, it's possible that she met a guy in that time and he's the real father of her baby."

"But who could that be?" he wondered aloud, "We've practically spent every day together for weeks now. I haven't heard her talking to anyone or heard of anyone coming around the house lately."

As he spoke, Lacey found herself thinking back on the day she had first overheard Jo discussing her pregnancy and the intensity of her clandestine conversation with Archie Yates. In that instant, when it all clicked together, she mentally kicked herself for not making the realization sooner. In her haste to share her theory, she blurted out rather tactlessly, "What about Archie?"

"What about him?"

"Could he be the father?"

Danny couldn't quite swallow back his snort of amusement. "I'm sorry but...what? You think Archie is the father of Jo's baby?"

"Why not? Why are you laughing at me right now? It's a valid suspicion! Danny, stop laughing!"

"If you knew them, you would know how ridiculous that theory is," he chortled, "Archie and Jo _tolerate_ each other at best. They hate each other. They've never gotten along, not in the entire time Archie and I have been friends."

"And yet, Archie was the one who knew about her pregnancy," Lacey reminded him, "He was the _only_ one who knew."

Danny straightened, all traces of mirth disappearing from his features abruptly. "No. It's not true."

"You didn't see them together that day, Danny," Lacey insisted, "That day Archie came to see her at the hospital. There was something going on. I definitely didn't get the impression that they hated each other."

"I said no!" he flared with an uncharacteristic burst of anger, "Would you drop it already?"

Lacey snapped to attention, surprised by the harshness in his tone. "I thought we were considering potential fathers here. So why are you yelling at me?"

"Not Archie okay!"

"Why not Archie?"

"I already told you."

"No, you said you thought Archie and Jo hated each other," Lacey pointed out stubbornly, "That doesn't explain the reason she told _Archie_ that she was pregnant or why he felt the need to leave school in the middle of the semester to come and see her. You don't do that for people you hate, Danny."

"It's not Archie okay!" he reiterated more fiercely than ever before, "Why are you pushing this?"

"A better question would be why aren't _you_ pushing it?" Lacey retorted.

"He's my friend," Danny argued, "I know we're not in the best place right now but we're going to work that out. He's my _friend_ , Lacey! He wouldn't do something like this."

"You mean sleep with Jo behind your back?"

"I mean lie to me about that baby being mine! He wouldn't do that to me. I don't want to believe that _everyone_ in my life is betraying me!"

Lacey jerked her head in a consenting nod, her demeanor becoming a little less militant following his explanation. "Okay. Maybe he doesn't know about it."

"You think she's lying to him too?"

"It's a possibility."

Danny flopped down into the bed once more and threw his forearm over his eyes. "This just gets more and more convoluted by the second. My best friend is possibly lying to me about the paternity of our baby and the _real_ father might just be my other best friend."

Lacey stretched out beside him, her mood equally morose. "History repeats itself."

"I just don't understand why this is happening," he muttered, "Why give me the chance to have everything I lost only to put me in the same exact position that caused me to lose it in the first place?"

"No one ever said fate wasn't ironic."

He swung up to face her then, propping himself up onto his elbow as he stared down at her with a pensive frown. "I'm serious. Why do you think all of this is happening again, Lacey?"

"Who knows? All I know is that you and I never finished our story in that first life. Maybe this is our opportunity to do that."

"Even if it's not a happy ending?" Danny considered sadly.

"I guess that's a possibility."

Clearly dissatisfied by that answer, Danny resumed his earlier position. "Well, if that's true," he considered, "It sucks. The whole thing _sucks_."

"Agreed."

He angled an earnest look over at Lacey. "I can't accept that. I don't want it to end for us the way it did the first time. I don't want _us_ to end at all."

"Neither do I."

"So what do we do? Because, right now, the future seems pretty damned bleak right now."

"You sound like you think we've already been written to fail."

"That's honestly how it feels," Danny sighed glumly.

"What? Like the gods have spoken or something?" Lacey scoffed, "I told you once, a long time ago, that I didn't believe in that kind of thing. Do you remember?"

Danny smiled fondly at the recollection. "Yeah, I do. I also remember thinking that you were putting yourself in danger with such thinking." His smile faded away as he added, "I think I might have been right about that."

"I didn't die because the gods willed it. I died because your sister was a homicidal lunatic."

"And I died because I was wounded in battle," he told her, "You and I never had a chance to speak again. I never got to tell you what was really in my heart and what I wanted for us."

"What was that?" But she already knew. The answer was reflected plainly in his eyes.

"I wanted to make a life with you. I wanted to marry you and have babies with you," Danny told her intently. He took her by surprise when he suddenly reared up over her and pressed his lips to hers in a fervent kiss. "I _still_ want all of those things," he said in a fierce whisper.

"You don't mean now, do you?" she asked, only half joking.

However, Danny took the question quite seriously. "Why not? I'm sure we could find someone in the city to marry us," he considered, "We could do it tonight." He favored her with an impish smile as his hands began a meandering trek underneath the soft cotton of her wrinkled t-shirt. "As for babies...well, we could start on making one of those right now..."

To his astonishment, Lacey rolled from beneath him before he could kiss her and then scooted away from him entirely and presented him with her back. Danny frowned his confusion. "What's wrong, Lace? What did I say?"

It took a few moments but Lacey finally gathered to courage to face him again because she knew that what she was about to say was going to hurt him terribly. "Danny, you know that I love you..."

"But," he prodded when she trailed off into anxious silence, "I get the feeling there's a 'but' in there."

She forced herself to meet his eyes then. "I think it's too soon to talk about marriage and children," she said, "It's too fast."

Danny blinked at her, obviously finding that notion ridiculous. "Too fast? Lacey we've loved each other in two different lifetimes! We're way beyond casual dating at this point!"

"I'm not suggesting that," she interjected quickly, "What you and I have together is much deeper than casual dating. We belong together. I believe that with my entire soul. _But_...I still live at home with my mother. I haven't finished school yet. I haven't even begun to live my life or even figure out who I want to be. Neither have you."

"Can't we figure it out together?"

Lacey released a low grunt of frustration at the mild reproof she sensed in this tone. "That's not what I meant. I'm not trying to shut you out of anything."

"Then what _do_ you mean?" Danny demanded, equally frustrated.

"Just what I said! It's too soon for marriage and babies! I can't be a mom right now, Danny! I'm not even twenty years old yet!"

"You weren't twenty the first time we talked about marriage and children either."

"That was a different time and different circumstances," she muttered in argument, "It's not fair to bring it up now."

Danny sighed at the aggravation in her voice. "Lacey, if you're worried about money, you gotta know that's not a problem. I'll take care of you. I'll give you whatever you need."

"Because that worked out so well the first time!"

He drew back from her with a deep scowl. "What in hell is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"It means I left my family and my home on _your_ dime to live in _your_ palace and that decision left me vulnerable to _your_ crazy sister!" Lacey ranted at him, "I'll be damned if I make the same mistake twice!"

"That won't happen again," he vowed, "I'll protect you this time."

"You couldn't protect me the first time and you were a king. What makes this time so different?"

Danny winced at that brutal reminder. "Are you saying that you don't want to marry me?"

Lacey inevitably softened at the hurt in his words. "I'm saying that I want to do this on my own terms," she clarified, "I want to be with you. I want to have a family with you but I also want to go to nursing school. I want to travel the world. I want to discover who I am _before_ I become a wife and mother."

Although he remained silent and respectfully listened to her point of view, it was clear from the way he averted his face and tightened his jaw that her words had caused him pain. Disheartened by the realization and hoping to soothe the sting of her confession, Lacey scooted closer and framed his face in her hands, silently cajoling him to look at her. He would not. She persisted nonetheless.

"Danny, please don't be this way," she pleaded, "I'm not rejecting you."

"Right."

"I'm not!" she insisted firmly in response to the doubt she heard in his mumbled reply, "I _do_ want to marry you. I _do_ want to have a family with you...just not right now." A measure of tension eased from his shoulders after that but he still would not meet her eyes. "Please try to understand." Lacey leaned forward to nuzzle against his cheek, placing soft, nibbling kisses across the line of his jaw. "Please..."

After a few seconds of uncertainty, he finally consented with a begrudging, "Okay."

Lacey smiled against his skin. "Is that an 'okay' as in you understand and you're not angry?" she prodded hopefully.

"It's an 'okay' as in I'm _trying_ to understand," Danny stressed.

With a billowing sigh of relief, Lacey pressed a sound kiss to the corner of his mouth. "That's good enough for now."

"Great." He shrugged out of her hold then and shifted to his feet, his expression still solemn and somewhat remote. "We should probably get out of here and grab some dinner."

The inscrutable shift in his mood made Lacey understandably anxious. "I thought we were going to spend the day here in the city."

"We are. But that doesn't mean when have to stay confined to my hotel room the whole time."

"Well, I like your hotel room." Lacey crawled to the edge of the bed with a naughty raise of her eyebrows and reached out to snag hold of his wrist and tug him closer. "I also like what we do in your hotel room, particularly this bed."

To her everlasting relief, he didn't pull away from her but instead favored her with a beguiling smile as he gently sifted his fingers through the hair at her temples. "I like that too but we can't stay in bed all day. There's a great big city out there just waiting to be explored."

If he expected Lacey to respond to that suggestion with unrestrained enthusiasm then Danny was immensely disappointed when she stiffened and announced rather implacably, "I'm not leaving this hotel room."

"What?" Danny balked incredulously, "Why?"

"Look at me!" she cried, as if that were explanation enough, "I'm a mess. I can't be seen in public like this!"

Danny bit back an amused smile. "You look beautiful."

That compliment did little more than incur Lacey's unimpressed eye roll. "I'm hideous and you know it." She began ticking off her arguments on her fingers. "My hair looks like a rat's nest because it hasn't seen a flat iron since this morning. Plus, all I have to wear is what I had on this morning. I don't even have a change of underwear! Not everyone in this room was planning to stay in town overnight. Plus-plus, it will be dark in a few hours. All the more reason to stay in bed."

When her tirade was done, Danny bent low to brush a smiling kiss across her pouting mouth. "Your hair is perfect. I can get you more clothes and underwear. And lastly, this is New York City, babe, the city that never sleeps. It was meant to be enjoyed at night."

Three hours later, Danny had proved as good as his word and Lacey not only had fresh clothing and underwear but had been afforded with a personal stylist for her hair. Afterwards, she and Danny finally left on what they belatedly realized would be their first official date as a couple. Danny insisted that they make their way over to Chinatown so that they could sample the selection of food the street vendors had to offer while they shopped.

Lacey quickly learned that Danny hadn't been exaggerating when he said that New York never sleeps. She found herself enthralled with the sights and sounds that surrounded her, "oohing" and 'ahhing" at the plethora of curios and creations each tiny shop had to offer. She was so preoccupied with perusing souvenirs and Danny just as preoccupied with perusing _her_ that night of them noticed the two men who had been shadowing their every step since they had left the hotel. Oblivious, they strolled along the crowded walk together, enjoying a shared box of lemon fried chicken bites and each other as they did so.

The moment felt so perfect that Danny felt compelled to completely put to rest the disagreement they'd had earlier in his hotel room. "So, I've been thinking about what you said," he remarked in a rare moment of silence between them, "and I can wait, Lacey. If you need to find yourself or figure out who you are or whatever it is...I can wait."

Filled with gratitude at his willingness to understand and accept her terms, Lacey offered him an appreciative smile before stopping to kiss him right there in the middle of everything, impervious to the bottleneck of pedestrian traffic she caused when she did so. "I love you," she breathed when they finally came up for air, "You have no idea how much I do."

Danny grinned at her. "I'm not opposed to you showing me." Her intention to accept his silent invitation to kiss him again was aborted by the grumbling New Yorkers who elbowed past them in annoyance and demanded that they take their PDA elsewhere. While Lacey cringed in embarrassment, however, Danny quickly scanned their surroundings for a more secluded place to makeout. When he spotted a narrow alley way not too far from where they stood he caught hold of Lacey's hand and began leading her there, tossing away their trash along the way.

"Where are we going?" she laughed, a little intrigued by his covert behavior.

He hesitated to tell her his intentions right away because he suspected if she knew what he had in mind that she would put up a fuss about it...and he was right. The instant Lacey realized that he intended to lead her into a "dirty, dark, unsanitary" alley, she became stubbornly resistant. Danny then had no other choice but to attempt to seduce her over to the idea with a kiss. It took a few moments but eventually Lacey began kissing him back and, all too soon, their playful exchange turned passionate. However, when Danny started tentatively exploring the bare skin beneath her shirt, Lacey abruptly regained her head and swatted his hands away.

"Not here," she hissed in admonishment, "People can still see us."

His eyes glassy with desire and need, Danny urgently coaxed her deeper into the alley with the obvious intention of finishing what they had begun and more. Once they were safely out of sight, they fell into each other's arms once again, kissing wildly as if they were starved for it. Somehow they ended up far from the crowd, just beneath a wrought iron fire escape with Lacey pressed between the brick facade of the building and Danny's thrusting body. They were so wrapped up in the heady sensations they were feeling and creating that neither of them realized they were no longer alone in the alley until Danny felt the ring of cold steel press to the base of his neck.

"If she screams, I'll blow your head off," their assailant warned them in raspy tone.

Lacey whimpered in terror at the threat but valiantly stifled her urge to call for help. Not too far from them, she could still hear the low hum of the crowd from the street, close enough to offer aid them but not enough to keep them from being shot. She trembled and gripped the front of Danny's shirt, too afraid to even look up and make eye contact with their attacker. Sensing her fear, Danny did his best to control his own as to not alarm Lacey further.

"My wallet is in my back pocket," he informed the gunman, "There's about six hundred dollars in cash in there and a credit card. You can have it all. Just take it and let us go."

"I don't want your wallet," the man hissed in his ear, "I want _you_."

Those were the last words Danny heard before his head exploded with pain and the world around him went dark.


	26. Chapter Twenty Five

**Chapter Twenty Five**

Lacey Porter awoke to a wildly spinning room. Or, at least, it _felt_ like it was spinning. She hardly had a moment to even orientate herself or even figure out what was happening because she was almost immediately assailed with the need to throw up. Her mouth watered in warning mere seconds before she instinctively rolled to her side to empty out the lingering contents of her stomach onto the floor. The action brought to her attention that her mobility was severely impaired by the handcuff looped around her ankle but in that moment Lacey was too sick to care. She vomited until her chest burned, until she simply had nothing left. After it was over, she weakly collapsed onto her back and only then did she begin to process her gloomy surroundings and assess her situation.

The first thing she realized was that she was lying on some kind of sofa/daybed combo and was secured to it by the rusted metal frame. She struggled against it only briefly because, all too quickly, she realized that the resulting clanking was much too loud and she didn't want to draw the attention of whomever had chained her in the first place. She forced herself to relax against the sagging mattress, ignoring the protruding springs that poked uncomfortably in her lower back as she attempted to strategize a way out of her current predicament and figure out where she was.

Wherever that was, it was dark. Not pitch dark, like during the night, but the murky darkness that existed in a room that had all the curtains pulled closed. Only the barest beams of light filtered in through the heavy fabric, illuminating dancing particles of dust in their glow. From their faded color and dusty exterior, Lacey imagined that no one had given much attention to those drapes or pulling them open for a very long time.

From there her attention turned to the dilapidated ceiling fan which hung askew just above her head. It was clear from the look of it that the mechanism was non-functioning. Wires snaked out from the top of it, as if someone had intended on installing in and then had abandoned the project mid-way through. Its weathered blades were caked with dust so thick it almost looked as if it could be _peeled_ away. Lacey cringed inwardly at the sight. Still, even the curtains and the ceiling fan were in much better shape than the bed to which she was chained.

She couldn't really visualize the bare mattress in the dimness but it smelled sour. The aroma only served to worsen her nausea. However, Lacey bit down against the impulse to keep focused on the task at hand. She had to remember how she had gotten there and, most importantly, figure out a way to get _out_ of there. Her last clear memory was crossing the street with Danny after spending a night shopping in Chinatown. She could perfectly visualize the mischievous grin on his face as he pulled her along behind him and then...nothing. Everything that happened afterwards was on the periphery of her consciousness but, for the most part, remained fuzzy and distant.

 _Danny!_ Where was he? Lacey veered upright, ignoring the severely swimming in her head as she frantically searched the tiny room with her eyes for some sign of him. There was only one bed in the room and she was on it. The rest of the room consisted of sheet covered boxes and furniture but she saw no sign of Danny whatsoever. Beyond the clutter that littered to tiny room, she could just barely make out a door frame...her way to freedom. Her heart pounding with growing anxiety over Danny, Lacey began struggling against her bonds anew, insensible to the ruckus she created, shaking the bed violently in her attempts to free herself.

"God, babe..." a voice groaned from out of the darkness, "Can you stop jostling the bed? You're killing me."

Lacey sagged with relief, falling back onto her elbows in exhaustion. "Oh my god, Danny? Is that you?"

"No. It's the Dali Llama."

She made a small, scoffing sound under her breath. "Well, I guess that answers my second question."

"What question?"

"I was going to ask you if you were okay but obviously you are if you're being sarcastic."

"Sorry. My head hurts like hell."

Lacey peered through the murky gloom once more for some sign of him. "Where are you?"

"On the floor, at the foot of the bed," he said, "I'd raise my hands but they're kind of tied behind my back at the moment."

He hadn't even finished speaking before Lacey was scrambling upright and scooting the end of the bed to peer down at him. To her disheartened realization, Danny hadn't been exaggerating. Not only were his hands tied behind his back but his feet were bound as well. Lacey's fleeting hope that he might be able to find something to free her so that they could run died a quick death. However, her disappointment was quickly replaced with worry when she noticed the pool of congealed blood just beneath where Danny had his head rested against the mattress.

"You're bleeding!" she gasped, instinctively reaching forward to feel through his matted hair for the source. "No wonder you sound so groggy."

"They hit me," he told her somewhat blearily, "I think the bleeding is from that. But I'm pretty sure that's not the only reason I'm out of it. They drugged us too."

"They?"

Danny shrugged and then immediately hissed in pain when Lacey hit a particularly tender area. "Two guys. I don't know who 'they' are. I just know 'they' brought us here."

She winced as her fingers skated along what felt like a goose egg at the back of his skull, trying not to recoil from the feel of his sticky blood against her hands. "Do you know where we are?"

"No clue. I have some vague impressions of being in the back of a van and maybe riding over a bridge but that's it."

Lacey scooted back once she had completed her examination. "You have a scalp laceration for sure," she told him in a matter of fact tone, "but I can't tell how big it is because of all the dried blood. At least, the bleeding is controlled for now. But we need to get you to a hospital. You're probably going to need stitches not to mention a tetanus shot."

He tipped back his head to favor her with a humorless smile. "I don't think that's happening any time soon, Lace. I'm pretty sure the people who brought us here mean to keep us."

"Or kill us," Lacey countered darkly.

Danny shook his head. "No. If they wanted us dead then we'd be dead already. They want something from me, I think. I just haven't figured out what."

"Is there never a lifetime when there _aren't_ people trying to do you harm?" Lacey wondered somewhat dryly.

His forehead wrinkled in a wry grimace. "Apparently not."

He started to say more but at that precise moment they both became aware of muted voices just beyond the doorframe, signaling the fact that they were not alone. Danny and Lacey traded panicked glances before she quickly scrambled back into place. She lay back down against the mattress and closed her eyes to feign sleep all the while straining to make out the words being spoken.

"...you're an idiot and you're playing with fire!"

"Don't you know who that kid is? He's a freaking Desai, not to mention his mother was a Kincaid! Those people are loaded! We can get more money, if not from her then definitely from someone else!"

"And the girl?"

"I haven't figured that part out yet."

"We should have just finished her in the alley like I said! This is getting way too complicated."

"It's not. I'll take care of the girl. We'll shake the boss down for a little more cash and then finish the job as planned. We're so close. Don't screw this up now!"

" _I'm_ screwing this up?"

It was difficult to make out exactly what was said next because the tone had been lowered several octaves but, to Lacey, it sounded like: "You're being crazy. Just stick with the plan and we'll be fine."

She assumed she must have been right because the second kidnapper exploded almost immediately after, "Except this _wasn't_ the plan! What the hell is wrong with you? She's going to flip out and then who do you think she'll come after! Do you know what kind of connections she has? Do you really want her after us? The bitch is nuts!"

"This is business. Besides, she's been jerking us around this whole time. Maybe it's time we jerk her around for a change."

"Nobody jerks her around. You don't know who you're dealing with."

"We're the ones putting our asses on the line! Who do you think is going to go down for that kid's murder if we get caught? We might as well get some extra cash out of the deal."

"Hell no! We kill him. We get the money. We split! That's it!"

"Come on-!"

"No, I mean it! If you can't deal with that, then you're out! I was trying to be generous by letting you be a part of this but you're done. Get your crap and get the hell out of here!"

"What? Like you're firing me right now?" Whatever reply he received it obviously made him angry. "We're in the middle of a job. You can't fire me!"

"I just did. Now get out of here. I'm gonna go take a smoke. Be gone by the time I get back."

Seconds later the room reverberated with the aftershocks of the slamming door. An instant later, it rattled again, indicating that the second captor had gone after the first. Lacey started to question Danny about what he thought might be going on when the silence was suddenly split with the echoing booms of three gunshots in rapid succession. Lacey yelped at the sound, her mind already leaping to the most morbid conclusion. Afterwards, there was an eerie silence that followed. No yelling. No sounds of movement. Just silence. Lacey whimpered. She couldn't see Danny's face but she imagined he must look as horrified as she felt.

"Danny? What's happening out there?"

"Maybe it's not what we think it is," he considered weakly.

"I grew up in Baltimore. It sounded like gunshots to me."

"Don't think about it," he advised her with a calmness he did not feel, "Just keep breathing and don't think about it."

Moments later, the door slammed once again. The sound was followed by a round of unintelligible but volatile cursing. Next, Lacey heard the heavy clumps of footsteps making their way in their general direction. Futilely trying to prepare herself for what she suspected was coming next, she tensed and pinched her eyes tighter, her breath suspended in her lungs when their attacker's great, hulking form filled the door frame.

She had the wild hope that if she pretended to be asleep he would simply go back the way he had come. It was a vain hope. Which each step that brought him closer to where she lay, Lacey felt her heart thump heavily with dread. In those moments, she was acutely cognizant of every minute sound. Danny's sudden, agitated shifting at the foot of the bed, their kidnapper's low growl of frustration as he undoubtedly glared down at her still form and even the cadence and pitch of her own rapid breathing. She curled her fingers into the dirty mattress in an attempt to brace herself for whatever he had planned but somehow still jumped and flinched when he bellowed, "What the hell is this?"

Terrified by the burst of anger, Lacey didn't dare _look_ at him let alone answer him. Unfortunately, her silence only aggravated him further. He swooped down next to her and grabbed a handful of her hair, causing Lacey to react with a surprised yelp. Danny immediately began bellowing for the man to back off, helplessly rattling the frame of the rickety bed in a demand for their captor's attempt. He was summarily ignored as the man forced Lacey's face towards the chunky, discolored mess that she had left on the floor just seconds after waking.

"Did you do this?"

Lacey cowered, making the unwise decision to glance at him briefly and instantly regretting it. It wasn't enough that he inspired terror in her based purely on his size and frame. There was also the fact that she could plainly see the black, steel handle of a handgun at his waistband or that she was fairly certain that he had used the weapon to murder his partner in cold blood minutes ago. But lastly, she found herself repulsed by his face because his features distorted and indistinguishable behind the clear, plastic mask he wore to conceal his identity. She didn't know if his efforts spoke to the fact that he meant to leave her alive or that he had obviously planned out his crime in meticulous detail. At the moment, however, none of that seemed to matter very much because he was growing impatient with her.

He fisted his fingers in her hair even tighter. "Well? Answer me!" Danny rattled the bed further, incurring the man's sharp warning to "shut the hell up!" He then thrust his face within inches of Lacey's. "Do you expect me to clean this crap up? Do you?"

She shook her head a little madly, as much as his grip would allow. "N-no."

"Do you know what I've done for you? Don't make any more trouble for me," he warned her in a hissing whisper, "I'd hate to have to punish you, pretty girl."

Lacey's pitiful whimper was drowned out when Danny shouted, "Leave her alone!"

"I already told you to shut up, boy!" their captor grated menacingly, "Don't try me. Just because I need you alive _for now_ doesn't mean I can't come over there and kick your ass!" He turned his attention back to Lacey then, the punishing grip at the nape of her neck abruptly softening into a caress. He dragged his hand down her breast and gave it a firm squeeze, seemingly impervious to Lacey's revolted mewls of protest. And when his fingers trailed lower, slithering across the bare expanse of her thigh, Lacey firmly regretted her decision to wear a skirt that day. "Are you going to be a good girl for me?" he cooed against her ear, "We can have some fun if you're a good girl."

"I...I just want to go home," Lacey managed, trying her best to remain calm even as she was being sexually assaulted and terrorized by a stranger with her boyfriend within earshot, "Please let us go and we won't tell anyone what you did. Just let us go."

"I'll let you go," he promised as he bunched up a handful of Lacey's shirt with obvious intent, "But me and you are going to have a little fun first." He had the audacity to nuzzled her face then, causing Lacey to gag in disgust.

"If you lay a hand on her, I swear I will kill you," Danny ranted, "You hear me, asshole? _I'll kill you!_ "

The man growled something under his breath about Danny needing to be taught some manners before he shot to his feet and stalked to the end of the bed. He began raining down a series of punishing kicks and stomps against Danny's torso and abdomen, taking obvious pleasure in his victims short grunts of pain and Lacey's hysterical screaming. The abuse might have gone on indefinitely if the man's phone didn't ring. He landed one last kick to a half-conscious Danny before he answered.

"What do you want?" he growled. Lacey could tell from his body language that he wasn't thrilled with the person on the other line. His next words caused her to shudder and basically confirmed what she already knew. "Yeah, well he's not available anymore so you're dealing with me now." The last thing she heard as he stalked from the room was, "Hey! I'm the one with the leverage here. Maybe you should make it worth my while..."

The moment he was gone Lacey darted swiftly to the other end of the bed to check on Danny. He lay curled on the floor, unmoving with blood leaking in steady rivulets from his nose and mouth. For one, horrifying second Lacey thought he might be dead but then a bleary groan rumbled from his throat. She sagged against the creaking bedrails, tears of relief stinging the backs of her eyes. When Danny began an ineffective endeavor to push himself upright, Lacey reached over the top of the rusted bed frame to grab a handful of his t-shirt to assist.

"Are you okay?" she asked once he was settled.

Danny flexed his jaw experimentally and spat out a mouthful of blood before answering. "Pretty sure he broke a couple of ribs just now," he panted in obvious discomfort, "and I hurt all over but I'm more worried about you right now." He angled a searching look up at her. "Did he hurt you, Lace?"

She shrugged in response and looked away, her expression haunted. "Not physically." Her expression became even more remote when she added, "I don't want to talk about it."

Somehow her unwillingness to talk about her ordeal was more emotionally eviscerating to Danny than if she had described what had been done to her in graphic detail. He had never killed another person or done anyone serious harm in his life but he was seriously contemplating breaking their kidnapper's neck in that moment. Frustrated and angry, Danny strained against his bonds with renewed vigor, trying fruitlessly to wriggle his hands free from the ropes. "Damn it," he grated under his breath as beads of perspiration began to dampen his forehead, "Was this guy in the cub scouts or what?" He tried several minutes more, struggling until he had worked himself into near exhaustion and was sure that he had chafed his skin raw enough to draw blood.

Lacey stared down at him hopefully when he finally stopped moving. "Anything?"

He expelled a forlorn sigh. "Still as tight as ever. What about you?"

"I'm handcuffed to the bed." Lacey rattled the chain around her ankle for emphasis. "I don't think I'm going anywhere anytime soon." In the background they could hear the rising strains of their captor's infuriated cursing. It wasn't difficult to determine that the longer he spoke with his employer, the more agitated and volatile he became. Lacey and Danny regarded one another in growing concern before Lacey turned a wary glance towards the entryway.

"If we don't get out of here soon, he's going to kill us," she predicted direly.

Danny said nothing in response to that statement but it was clear from his expression that he did not disagree with her assessment. Aware that their window for escape was rapidly lessening, Danny asked, "Do you think you could loosen one of the bars? With all the rust you might be able to break something loose."

Lacey hesitated to nod, acutely cognizant of the man's frenetic ranting which was taking place less than 100 feet away. Her countenance tensed with unease. "Are you sure that's a good idea? What if he comes back in here?"

"He's distracted right now. This might be our only chance."

Recognizing the validity of his argument even while she was reluctant to carry out the action, Lacey positioned herself so that she could apply as much tension as she could to the cuff looping her ankle. Ignoring the aching pain that exploded in her bone when she did so, Lacey braced her free foot against the bars and began pushing with all of her might. She stopped, however, when they groaned loudly in protest. Her entire body frozen in anticipation and fear, Lacey waited for the moment their jailer would come running but he did not. Instead, he continued his grandiose telephone tirade, currently warning his employer that if she didn't pay up then he would find someone else who would.

"Try again," Danny urged when Lacey remained stationary.

Still terrified but nonetheless determined, Lacey tried again. She once again braced her unshackled foot against the bars and leaned all of her weight against it, biting her lip with the incredible pain that it caused. All the while, her ears remained perked for any sounds of approaching danger. At regular intervals she kept glancing over her shoulder, periodically reassuring herself that the man had not returned to finish what he had started earlier. In the meantime, she continued pushing, keeping her bound foot braced beneath her bottom to create the tension she needed. Thankfully, she had worn flats that day which made her task much easier.

Just when she thought she might cry out from the pain, the bar suddenly snapped and gave way. The moment was so sudden that Lacey nearly tumbled off the daybed altogether. Once she had righted herself and assimilated that the metal bar had snapped at the base where it was rusted completely through, she hastily skirted to Danny's side to loosen the ropes that bound his feet and hands.

The binding was thick and coarse and heavily stained with Danny's blood. His skin was horribly mangled and yet he barely winced or made a single sound of discomfort as Lacey worked to tug free the multiple knots. Her nimble fingers trembled violently as she labored, making the task painstaking and time-consuming. With each loosened loop, her heartbeat quickened maddeningly. She almost felt faint with adrenaline when she managed to tug apart the last of the tether and free Danny's hands completely. However, the instant she started to dive for his legs with the same intention both Danny and Lacey became aware of the heavy footfalls of their captor as he approached.

"Get back on the bed!" Danny hissed at her urgently.

Fear rendered Lacey surprisingly agile. By the time the man had reached the threshold of the small room that was serving as their jail Lacey was once again positioned on the ramshackle mattress, her leg positioned deceptively so as to create the illusion that she was still handcuffed firmly to the bed. In hopes of guaranteeing success in her ruse, Lacey made a concerted effort to slow her breathing, hoping devoutly the man didn't notice the labored rising and falling of her chest. She couldn't help but grow agitated as he continued to hover there in the threshold, studying her intently from behind his plastic mask.

"What?" she demanded crossly when the stress became too much for her to bear.

She detected a toothy grin from him. "You're fiery," he remarked gleefully, "I like that. Makes me think you'll be plenty of fun later." Lacey turned her face aside, deciding for her own sanity not to acknowledge his words at all. She would have continued staring at the adjacent wall if he hadn't asked, "So...uh...you hungry?"

Lacey pinned him with a disdainful glare. "Excuse me?"

"Well...you know...it's been about a day," the man considered almost thoughtfully, "and you haven't had anything so...if you're hungry or you need to pee or whatever...just say the word."

His unexpectedly charitable attitude was both laughable and infuriating. "I need to get out of here," Lacey enunciated between clenched teeth, "I need a doctor for my boyfriend! You remember him. He's the guy you practically kicked to death earlier."

The man waved his hand in dismissal. "He's fine. That kid needs to grow a pair."

"He needs medical attention! Where's your humanity?"

"I don't speak 'humanity.' I speak money," he replied, "Don't worry. Your precious boyfriend will be put out of his misery soon enough. As soon as my boss transfers the money into my account, I'll make sure that his troubles are over. Then it will just be you and me. Won't that be fun?"

Only when he was gone did Lacey allow the full extent of her terror to come through. "Oh my god, oh my god, Danny," she wept brokenly, "He's going to kill you! He's going to kill you!"

"And he'll do worse to you," he concluded darkly, "You've got to get out of here, Lacey. There's no other choice. I'll distract him so you can run."

"What? NO! I'm not leaving without you!"

"For God's sake, Lacey-!"

"No! Shut up! I'm not doing it so don't ask me anymore! Think of something else!" A muttered string of curses poured from his lips. Lacey knew that he wasn't happy with her but, in that moment, she couldn't bring herself to care. "Are you able to get your legs free?" she asked.

"Not yet," he grunted back, obviously struggling, "Working on it though."

"I can help."

"Don't," he cried sharply before she could even begin to creep from the bed, "He could come back in here at any moment!"

Made more and more antsy with each ensuing second, Lacey nibbled pensively at her lower lip. "We need a weapon. He's got a gun, Danny. We won't last two seconds if we don't have some way to defend ourselves."

"I've got something," Danny reassured her, "If we can take him by surprise, we might just have a shot of getting out of here. No pun intended."

"Really, Danny? You're making jokes right now?"

"It's either that or cry like a little baby." He was silent for a long time after that and, when he finally spoke again, his worse were hoarse with contrition and unshed tears. "I'm really sorry about all of this, Lacey...for everything."

"Why are you apologizing? It's not like you masterminded us being kidnapped."

"In the long run that doesn't matter much because they were after _me_ , not you. The reason you were targeted was because you were with me. You were just collateral damage."

"I'm not blaming you."

"Maybe you should blame me. I'm always putting your life in danger, aren't I?" he pondered aloud, "It doesn't matter what lifetime it is. I'm bad for you."

Ignoring the danger in doing so, Lacey climbed to the edge of the bed and peered down at him from over the railing. "Don't say things like that. I don't believe it and neither do you. This is a bad situation and we'll get ourselves out of it. We always do. Remember when we were in the Mitanni capitol? If we got out of that, we can get out of this. Okay?"

Danny jerked an assenting nod. "Okay."

"Now, if you're done feeling sorry for yourself, get finished with those ropes, please. I want to go home."

"Yes, maam."

Lacey had barely finished repositioning herself when their captor suddenly returned. Even with his features obscured behind his mask, self-satisfaction rolled off of him in nauseating waves. Lacey groaned inwardly, even before he said, "The money came through. Now we can end this."

"Sir, please don't," Lacey begged, throwing out her arms to stave him off when he began to advance, "You don't want to do this! It's murder!"

"Don't worry, princess," he crooned, "I won't make you watch."

He clicked his teeth at her in a leering smile, wholly unprepared for the moment when Danny surged upright brandishing what appears to be a decorative bed post that was, at least, 2x2 in thickness and swung it around with all of his might. The wood made brutal contact with the man's shoulder, splitting the silence with the sound of breaking bone intermingled with his agonized yelp. As he toppled forward, Danny took a moment to land one more blow to the man's back before tossing aside his makeshift weapon. He jumped around the felled man and held out his hand to a stupefied Lacey. "Come on!" he yelled as he snagged hold of her wrist, "We gotta move!"

Reanimated by the sudden and swift turn of events, Lacey deftly clamored over the kidnappers prone form and dashed with Danny, hand in hand, through what appeared to be a tiny, disorderly cottage. As the two frantically searched for the exit, they could hear the man rooting around in the back room as he struggled to regain his footing and give chase. His enraged bellowed exploded behind them at the exact instant they found the front door and burst out into the dwindling sunlight...and the thick, dark forest that was just beyond the house. That first taste of freedom was immediately following by a bullet whizzing past Danny's temple.

Both Lacey and Danny readily acknowledged the two choices that lay before them: stay and die or run and brave the relative unknowns of an untamed wild. The choice was clear. They ran.

Under a hail of bullets, they darted wildly for the thick winding copse, barely missing a step even when they stumbled across the colorless corpse of the man who had once been their kidnapper's partner. As they were swallowed by the web of trees and dense thicket, their hands clasped together tightly as they literally ran for their lives, Danny and Lacey were impervious to the rapid pops of raining bullets as they sank into the sturdy bark above their heads. They felt no pain as they were lashed across the face and, in Lacey's case, bare shins, again and again by low, hanging branches and tangled vines as they made their escape.

They ran until it felt as if their knees would give out entirely and their lungs would burst from exertion, until the ground seemed to give way beneath their feet and they went tumbling, flying, falling down a steep embankment littered with dead leaves and fallen trees. Even then, however, limping and in incredible pain, they picked themselves up and continued their flight, not considering the possibility of stopping at all until the sound of gunfire was little more than a distant echo and they could no longer hear their captor's angry shouting dogging their heels. When they, at last, felt safe enough they sank down together on the remains of a rotting log to catch their breath and assess the damage.

Besides being covered in oozing cuts and burning scrapes and receiving more than a few body sprains, neither of them seemed too worse for wear except...Danny was bleeding. When Lacey noticed the spreading darkness bleeding into the sleeve of his jacket, she hurriedly ripped the garment aside to inspect the wound, filled with dread over what she might find. To her everlasting relief, the bullet had not penetrated his arm but had, instead, deeply grazed his bicep. Nonetheless, he was bleeding pretty heavily. Lacey bunched his jacket together and applied pressure to the wound as best she could.

"Just until the bleeding is controlled," she explained when Danny gave her a look.

"No, I was just thinking that you're going to make one hell of a nurse one day."

Lacey grunted at the compliment. "I can only do so much right now. You're still going to need a hospital when we get out of here."

" _If_ we get out of here," Danny prefaced darkly, "He's still out there, Lace."

"He won't find us. It's getting dark. He'll give up."

"But what about the cold. We can't stay out here all night. We'll freeze."

Lacey shivered at the prospect. "We should call for help. Do you have your phone with you?"

Danny shook his head. "I left it back at the hotel. Remember?"

She did remember. Danny had been determined to enjoy an evening with her free of interruptions from his family and Jo. It hadn't been enough for him to merely turn off his cell phone. He hadn't wanted it on his person at all that night. Consequently, it remained on the nightstand back at the hotel where he had left it. In hindsight, it seemed like a supremely foolish decision. The young lovers regarded one another with despondent expressions before Danny's eyes suddenly lit up with hope.

"What about you? Any chance you've got your phone?"

"Nope. My cell is with my purse and who the hell knows where that is now."

"Great. So I guess that means we're camping out for the night."

Lacey shook her head in protest. "No, we can't do that. You need a doctor. Maybe I could go and look for help and-,"

"-No," Danny interrupted firmly before she could finish her thought, "It's too dangerous for you to be wandering around in the woods alone, especially at night. Even if we didn't have to contend with that lunatic, what about all the animals?"

A troubled look passed over her face. "Animals?"

"Dense forest like this?" Danny considered thoughtfully, "I'm sure of it. They'll be out to hunt soon."

"Fantastic," Lacey grunted darkly, "So our choices are to be shot by a madman, freezing to death in the wilderness or being mauled to death by wild, bloodthirsty animals. It just keeps getting better and better."

"You forgot bleeding to death," Danny added jokingly, "There's that too."

All traces of wry humor disappeared from Lacey's face then. "You're not going to bleed to death, Danny. I won't let that happen."

His mouth twisted in a bittersweet smile. "At this rate, you're going to make a career out of saving my life." He reached up to tenderly brush his thumb across her abraded cheek. "You know that?"

"I don't mind it," she vowed solemnly, "Not one bit." They leaned into each other in a profound moment of weariness and understanding before Lacey reared back to reapply pressure to Danny's bleeding arm. "I just don't get it," she muttered, more to herself than to him, "Who would want you dead anyway? You're a college student, for crying out loud!"

Danny favored her with a crooked smile. "Haven't we had this conversation before?"

"I'm being serious. Who wants you dead?"

"My aunt," he sighed despairingly, "I can't prove it right now but I'm pretty sure it's her."

"Why?"

"I have something she wants."

"And she thinks she'll get it if you're dead?"

"Yep."

Lacey surveyed him with a pitying look, anguished to realize that he had been thoroughly robbed of a loving family in his present life as well. "Danny, that's awful."

"What's _more_ awful is that I've put you in this position all over again. Lacey, I'm so sor-,"

She pressed her free hand to his lips. "I told you not to apologize anymore. This is where I want to be. It's my choice."

"You weren't saying that a week ago," he reminded her.

"I was wrong a week ago," she countered, "I didn't realize fully what we were to each other a week ago. Everything has changed now."

He overrode her arguments with several brutal posits. "What if it's too dangerous to be with me, Lacey? What is Tara tries to kill me again? What if you get hurt the next time or worse? What if you die again?"

Lacey staunchly refused to contemplate the possible answers to his questions. She busied herself with caring for his wound. "That won't happen."

"It could."

She glared at him, her dark eyes steely and confident. "It won't. Stop this. You're losing a lot of blood and you need to conserve your energy. Worrying about things that might not even happen isn't helping anything. Try to relax while I figure out a way to get us out of here."

Danny was form soothed by her poise. "Lacey..." he whispered as fatigue gradually began to overtake him, "What if we die out here?"

Her mouth thinned into a grim line, Lacey answered him without a single hint of reserve. "Then at least we'll be together this time."


	27. Chapter Twenty Six

**Chapter Twenty Six**

Jo reared upright on the stretcher the moment her father entered her treatment room, the mundane conversation that she had been carrying on with her mother only seconds before all but forgotten. "What have you heard?" she demanded a little frantically.

Before Kyle Masterson could rush to her side to coax her back into a prone position, his wife had already sprung into action. Tess Masterson snapped to her feet and gently admonished her only daughter for the sudden movement and unneeded exertion. "Jo Marie, calm down. You can't do that. You have to rest," she reminded Jo as she carefully urged her back against her pillow, "Don't get yourself worked up again. Remember, you're still healing, sweetheart."

Tess' motherly ministrations incurred little more than Jo's exasperated eye roll. "Mom, I'm fine," she grated, "You don't need to hover."

Her father grunted in response her grumpy proclamation. "We'll be the judges of that, thank you very much." Kyle then directed a concerned glance towards his wife. "So what's the latest news?"

"I think we're turning a corner," Tess sighed with a large measure of relief, "The doctor said that based on her last CT it looks like her bleed is beginning to resolve. _But_ , he wants her next CT to be all clear before we move forward with the delivery."

The last of her words were drowned out by Jo's impatient sigh. "I don't want to talk about that right now. Tell me about Danny! Is he okay?"

"I'll tell you what I know," Kyle promised, "But first you have to calm down."

At that particular moment, however, his request seemed like an impossible one to Jo. She had spent the last 48 hours worrying herself into a panicked frenzy. It took everything she had not to leap up from the stretcher and refrain from screaming like a lunatic. With her uninjured arm, she reached out to grip her father's forearm in desperation when he came to sit on her bed. "Please tell me," she choked fervidly, "Tell me that they found him, Daddy. Tell me that he's okay."

Kyle pressed a calming kiss to her forehead. "Yes, Jo. He's okay. They found him this morning."

While he was relieved to know that Danny Desai hadn't come to any lasting harm, at that precise moment, the young man was really the last thing on Kyle Masterson's mind. This had been the first time he had taken an easy breath in more than 36 hours. The last three days had been nothing short of hell for him and his family.

When he had first received news of Jo's accident, that she had been found unconscious at the base of the stairs from an apparent fall, his mind had immediately darted to the worst case scenario. He was very familiar with the elegant and grand staircase that led to the second story of the Desai home. To fall from the top was quite a distance. Kyle hadn't expected the news to be good. Consequently, as he and Tess had raced to the hospital to be at their daughter's side that day, all the misunderstandings and arguments of the past seemed petty and insignificant. They were forgotten. All that truly mattered was being with their little girl.

However, once they made it to the hospital, their worst fears were confirmed. Not only had the doctors determined that Jo's baby, surprisingly not the daughter they had all been expecting but a son instead, had tragically died in utero but, in addition to a broken clavicle and concussion the head injury she had sustained had also caused a subdural hemorrhage which would require time to heal. Kyle and Tess had been running themselves ragged to keep Jo calm so as not to aggravate her condition and it had not been an easy task...not with a missing Danny and the prospect of delivering her dead child looming ahead of her. He had made locating Danny Desai his priority not out of some frenetic worry for the errant teenager but out of wholehearted concern for his daughter's tenuous mental state. After enduring so much tragedy, he wasn't sure that Jo was strong enough to endure yet another emotional blow.

Immediately following Jo's accident, they had spent that first day huddled around Jo's bed, watching and waiting as she drifted in and out of confused delirium. The second day had only been marginally better. Though some of her lingering grogginess persisted and she had no clear memory of the details involving her fall, Jo had opened her eyes and had even been able to maintain short stretches of conversation with them. The disheartening part was that, when she was awake, she had mainly wanted to know about Danny. _Where was he? When was he going to come? Why wasn't he with her?_ The questions were seemingly endless and all ones that Kyle couldn't answer.

The moment Jo's condition had been stabilized on that first day, Kyle had wasted no time putting in an emergency call to Danny's cell. When he didn't reach Danny right away he wasn't dissuaded but instead obtained details of the boy's whereabouts from his father and aunt and left a message for him at the concierge desk of his New York hotel. Afterwards, Kyle had waited half an hour for a response and, when he didn't receive one, he had called again...and again...and again for the better part of three days.

Later on, when Jo was more awake, and kept repeatedly asking for him, Kyle had gingerly suggested the possibility that maybe Danny didn't want to be found, that perhaps he had chosen to run out on his responsibility to her and the baby. Unsurprisingly, Jo had been livid at the suggestion. Even when it had been pointed out to her that Danny had, in the past, disappeared for days and sometimes as long as a week at a time without word, Jo had remained adamant that Danny would _never_ walk out on her. She was sure that if he couldn't be found it was because something terrible had happened to him and not because he had taken the coward's route. It was due to her firm insistence on the matter that Vikram Desai finally reported his only son missing.

After that, the investigation into Danny's disappearance moved rather swiftly and the evidence lending credence to Jo's theory steadily increased. It was clear that something disturbing had occurred. The police found in Danny's hotel room his clothing and toiletries, his cell phone and the scattered belongings of a female companion. It was clear that he hadn't left the room with the intention of never returning...and yet it was clear that was exactly what had happened. With that surfacing news, Jo descended into a full blown panic and, in desperation, Kyle and Tess had been left with no choice but to have her sedated.

Kyle was becoming increasingly fearful that he would have to deliver the news of Danny's very likely drug-related death to his daughter just days after she learned about the death of her child when a hiker in southern Pennsylvania was approached by a disoriented, hypothermic teenage girl pleading for aid. A short time later, Danny was found beneath a canopy of trees, incoherent and barely breathing. He was immediately transported to the nearest hospital to receive IV fluids and warming blankets for severe dehydration and hypothermia. According to the last update Kyle had received from Vikram Desai, the boy's condition was currently serious but stable. He reassured Jo of the same thing.

"So he's alive," Jo assimilated in a grateful intake of breath.

"He's alive."

She tipped her head back into her pillow and closed her eyes in a silent prayer of thanks before lifting it again to regard her father in befuddled confusion. "I don't understand," Jo said, "How did Danny end up in the woods somewhere in Pennsylvania? What happened?"

"As far as I know, he was assaulted by two masked men while he was in Chinatown and they kidnapped him, apparently in hopes of ransoming him. That's all Vikram told me. I don't have any more details than that."

"But he was shot?" she pressed worriedly.

"Grazed across his upper arm when he was trying to escape," Kyle reassured her, "It's just a flesh wound. He'll be fine."

"So why are they keeping in the hospital overnight? What aren't you telling me, Dad?"

"I'm telling you _everything_ ," her father insisted, "He was out in the elements for two days with no food or water and he lost a lot of blood. The hospital is just being cautious."

Jo bit her lower lip, her blue eyes filling with tears as she asked, "Do...do you think he'll be home soon for...um...you know?"

"I don't know. From what Vikram told me he's still pretty out of it and very tired." She averted her eyes when the implication of what he was saying settled on her fully. Kyle reached over to cover her hand. "Honey, you don't need to feel obligated to wait for Danny," Kyle reassured her gently, "Your mom and I will be here the whole time. We'll hold your hand."

Tess piped in her encouragement as well. "I can't imagine what a toll this must be taking on you emotionally," she murmured, "If you just want to get it over with, no one would blame you."

Jo shook her head in mute refusal. When she finally spoke her words with garbled with tears. "I need Danny to be here. I can't deliver this baby without him. He _has_ to be here."

Kyle was clearly disappointed by her insistence but yielded nonetheless. "Well, Vikram was talking about making arrangements to have Danny transferred to here to Green Grove Medical," he considered, "Maybe it will work out."

"And you're sure he's okay," Jo pressed again when her father went curiously silent.

He gave her fingers a squeeze. "I'm sure."

"How did they find him?"

An uneasy glance passed between Kyle and Tess before he reluctantly explained, "There was a girl with him. She flagged down a hiker for help."

Jo blinked in bewilderment. "A girl?"

"Apparently she was with him when he was taken." He watched as his daughter digested that news with surprising stoicism. "Jo?" he questioned softly, "Was I wrong to assume that you and Danny were trying to have a relationship together?"

Once again, Jo looked away, unable to meet her father's eyes when she said, "We've been talking about it. That's all."

"Is that what you want?"

"Yes!" Jo exclaimed with fierce vehemence.

"Is that what Danny wants?" Kyle followed up carefully.

Jo snatched her fingers back from her father's grasp. "I know what you're thinking and it's not true," she rushed out, "Danny _kissed_ me before he left! We were making progress! There has to be some explanation for it all. What did Mr. Desai tell you?"

"That this girl very likely saved Danny's life. I think he said her name was Laney or Lacey or something and that she goes to school with you and Danny." Jo choked out a scoffing laugh at the name. Kyle frowned in surprise. "You know this girl?"

"I volunteer with her here at the hospital down in the ER. She's also Danny's ex-girlfriend. He's spent the last few weeks trying to get over her. She practically destroyed him, Dad!"

Tess leaned forward in her chair, pondering this new information. "Maybe they've decided to reconcile." Jo was already shaking her head in denial long before Tess had even completed the sentence. Her mother regarded her with a sympathetic look that bordered on pity. "Jo Marie, you have to, at least, consider the possibility. You need to deal with the fact that Danny doesn't feel the same way about you that you feel about him."

"You're wrong!" Jo snapped sharply, her blue eyes blazing with feral light, "Danny and Lacey are over! She couldn't accept the fact that he and I were having a baby. She was too insecure to accept that I was a permanent part of his life! That's why they broke up in the first place!"

"Well, all of that has changed now, hasn't it?" Tess observed softly.

Tess' hopes that the words would prompt Jo to begin facing reality only caused her daughter to retreat further into denial. "They have a class together," Jo burst out suddenly, "That's all. Danny must have run into her while he was at the Tut exhibit. They decided to walk through Chinatown together to talk and that's when he was abducted. It was just a coincidence!"

Kyle reached forward to tenderly brush tangled tendrils of blond hair back from Jo's forehead. "Sweetheart, this is the last thing you should be thinking about right now," he murmured, "You need to rest. You need to sleep."

"He's not with her," Jo mumbled to herself, seeming not to register a single word Kyle had said, "He can't be with her."

Tess reached over to lay a comforting hand against Jo's knee. "Honey, I know it feels like you'll never get over him but you _will_ ," she said, "You'll find someone who will love you the way you deserve to be loved."

"You don't get it, Mom," Jo sobbed brokenly, " _No one_ gets it! I love _him_. I love him more than anything. That's been true for as long as I can remember!" Horrified to realize that she was only seconds away from breaking down in front of them completely she pleaded, "Can you guys please go? I need to be alone for a while."

With a great deal of reluctance, her parents complied with her request, reassuring her that they would only go as far as the hospital cafeteria and that they would return shortly. Once they were gone, Jo hurriedly snatched up her cell phone from the table next to her bed and dialed Danny. She was disheartened but not completely surprised when Vikram Desai answered.

"Can I speak to him?" she requested shakily.

"He's sleeping right now, Jo. I don't want to wake him."

"How is he?"

"His vitals are stable. He's had two units of blood and he's receiving antibiotics for an infection. Other than that, he seems to be doing fine, just tired."

Jo gripped the phone tighter as she prepared to ask her next question. "Has...has he asked about me?"

Vikram hesitated to reply right away and Jo imagined it was because he was carefully formulating his next words. "He's been really out of it. He hasn't said much at all beyond some incoherent mumbling."

"Does he know about the baby yet?"

"Not yet. We've been mostly trying to piece together what happened to him for the authorities."

"Is Lacey helping with that?" she asked in a brittle tone.

"She's been incredibly helpful in filling in the blanks," Vikram confirmed, "I've had a hard time prying her from Daniel's side." He cleared his throat self-consciously before he continued. "I...uh...had no idea that Daniel was so seriously involved with anyone...besides you, I mean."

"They're not involved," Jo bit out, "They broke up a while ago. She broke his heart. I don't know why she'd be clinging to him now."

"You sound as if you don't like her," Mr. Desai observed after some silence.

"Is it that obvious?" Jo muttered bitterly.

"She saved Danny's life. We should try to focus on that for now."

The underlying censure she detected in his tone only further irritated Jo's frazzled emotions. She pressed her lips together in hard line in an effort to stymie the hateful words that wanted to spill from between them. Finally, when she was calmer, she asked, "Is she still there? I'd like to speak to her if I could."

"Unfortunately, she is not. She was discharged this morning and her mother came to take her home. She wasn't very happy about it. Come to think of it, neither was her mother."

"I'll bet she wasn't," Jo muttered under her breath before adding in a louder tone, "So they should be back in Green Grove by now, shouldn't they?"

"I imagine they should be. Why?"

"No reason in particular. Thank you, Mr. Desai. I'll keep in touch."

"Jo?" he questioned before she could end the call, "Are you alright? I realize you must be under a great deal of emotional stress right now and that what's happened to Daniel probably isn't helping matters. Do you need anything?"

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine," she lied with infused cheer, "Tell Danny that I'll call to check on him later."

After she had ended the call, Jo had no clear thought in her head beyond finding Lacey Porter, confronting her face to face and accusing her of being the heartless, opportunistic bitch that she was. It wasn't the least bit surprising to Jo that Lacey would choose now, of all times, to reel Danny back in. If Danny had given Lacey even the slightest indication that he was amenable to working things out with Jo then it made sense that Lacey might feel threatened. Given that, Jo couldn't imagine Lacey would have hesitated in staking her claim to Danny. In that regard, it was little wonder then that she and Danny were together when he was taken.

Having drawn what seemed to be perfectly logical conclusions, Jo felt more than justified in her impulsive determination to find Lacey Porter and put her in her place. In her mind, she would be neutralizing a threat, protecting Danny and protecting herself. At least, that was everything she told herself right then to manage the pain. It was much easier to hide in denial or use her anger as a shield than admit the truth to herself.

She had only managed to push herself into a seated position and skirt to the edge of the bed to slip on her shoes when Archie Yates suddenly materialized through her door. Upon discerning her intention to stand, he rushed over to catch her before she could execute the attempt. After so much exertion, Jo was too weak to fight him off right then.

"Oh no you don't!" he said, carefully urging her back down, "What are you doing? Where do you think you're going?"

Jo flinched back from Archie's solicitous touch and wrenched from his grasp as if he were made of fire, leveling him with a glare brimming with mistrust as she did so. "What are you doing here?" she demanded warily, "This is the critical care unit, how did you get past the nurses?"

Archie fell back a cautious step, surveying her with an astonished expression. "I saw your parents on their way out. They asked the nurses to let me back."

"Why would they do that?" she wondered suspiciously.

He regarded her with a dubious look, as if the answer to that question should have been readily apparent to her. "Because they know that I've been worried about you," he replied with deliberate emphasis, "And that I wanted to see you. I've been here every day since I found out."

Jo raked him with a scathing once over. "Why? Hoping to cover your tracks?"

Archie blinked at her, his brow knit with confusion. "I'm sorry. Am I supposed to know what that means?"

Rather than respond to that directly, Jo emitted a reproachful snort instead. "I'm not up for your games, Archie," she sighed wearily, "You've got some colossal nerve showing up here after what you did but I won't get into that now. I'm tired and I'm in pain. If you leave now, I won't make a scene and call security."

"Security?"

"I mean it!" she gritted fiercely, "Get out! I don't want to see you!"

While it was evident that Jo clearly believed he had come to visit her with some sort of angle, Archie was genuinely left dumbfounded by the level of vitriol being directed at him. Granted he understood that their last conversation hadn't left them on the best of terms with one another but, given the circumstances, he completely expected and hoped they could put that all aside. He took a cautious step towards her, noting how Jo immediately tensed with his movement...almost as if she expected him to hurt her.

"Is...is this about the fight we had before?" he asked tentatively, relating to her as if she were a cornered, frightened animal, "Jo, you have to know that I-,"

"-Find it rather convenient that the last thing I remember before waking up in this hospital bed is you calling me a bitch!" she finished for him frosty tone, "Could it be that the two things are related?"

In that one, absurd instant, Archie didn't know whether he should laugh at the tacit accusation or feel truly horrified. The latter won out. He stared down at Jo in stunned incredulity. "You think _I_ had something to do with your fall? That's...that's crazy!"

"Is it?" she challenged, "God, I knew you were angry with me, Archie, but I didn't think you hated me enough to push me down the stairs!"

"Wait a second! I did no such thing! I wasn't even in the house when it happened! You fell, Jo! _You fell_!"

She was hardly convinced by his vehemence. "Yeah right."

"Are you hearing yourself right now?" he cried, "This is insane! You know damned well that I would never do something like that to you! That I could _never_..."

"Nothing else makes sense!" she flared, visibly shaken by his insistence on his innocence, "One minute you're threatening to blow my life apart and the next minute I'm lying in this bed with tubes coming out of me! What else am I supposed to think?"

"That you sustained a head injury and that maybe you're confused about what happened," Archie provided in a tone dripping with sarcasm, "Not that I freaking tried to kill you!"

"But the stuff you said to me," she protested a little wildly, "The look on your face... You hated me, Archie! I could see it!"

"Because I was angry and hurt!" he cried in frustration, "Yeah, in that moment, I hated you a little. All I wanted was for you to tell the truth, Jo, but I didn't want to hurt you and I certainly didn't want to hurt our baby!"

Jo drew in a sharp, suspended breath at his words, her anger and mistrust abruptly leaking out of her leaving her trembling and vulnerable. She raised her hands reflexively to her rounded abdomen, her throat tightening with unshed tears. "So you know about that, huh?" she asked a little brokenly, "You know about the baby?"

Her obvious grief disarmed him, causing his aggravated expression to soften with empathy and regret. "Yeah, I know. I overheard your parents talking the other day." They met one another's eyes briefly before Jo opted to look away. Once again, Archie cautiously began closing the distance between them. "Are you okay?"

"It was a means to an end, you know? That's what I always told myself."

He peered at her curiously. "What was a means?"

"The baby," she whispered, "It never felt real. I never felt connected until... Lately, it started kicking and turning and I..." She stopped suddenly in a bid to regain her composure, not continuing until she was sure she could do so without her voice breaking. "It was starting to feel real to me."

"Yeah," Archie agreed gruffly, "It was starting to feel real to me too."

"I have to deliver it," she mumbled, dropping her head forward, "They're going to induce labor and everything and I have to deliver it. A dead baby. _My_ dead baby. I don't know if I can do that." Archie started to reach across the expanse between them to caress the top of her rumpled head when she added in a thread-bare whisper, "I wish Danny was here." He let his hand drop at her words, the burgeoning moment lost in a haze of envy, jealousy and regret.

"You can't always wait on Danny, Jo," he told her in a mildly flinty tone, "It's time you start thinking about yourself for a change."

She lifted her head to regard him with a somber smile. "According to you that's all I've been doing lately is thinking about myself."

"Yeah, well...I've been pretty pissed off at you."

"I've been pretty pissed off at you too."

"Because I kept rocking your perfect little world?"

She shook her head. "No. Because you never let me forget that it wasn't perfect in the first place." An unspoken truce forming between them in the wake of her reply, Archie took a seat in the empty space beside her on the bed. For a few moments, neither of them said a word but merely sat there together in contemplative silence. Finally, Jo asked, "Did you hear the news that Danny was missing?"

"I've heard a couple of things and I'm not too surprised," he replied with a measure of bitterness, "So what happened? Did he go on another bender? OD? What was it this time?"

"Surprisingly none of those things. He was kidnapped and held for ransom."

His mouth gaped open with shock. "What?"

"Yeah, he got shot and everything. He almost died, Archie. He's being treated in some hospital in Pennsylvania as we speak."

Archie sagged forward in disbelief, struggling to process all the information he'd just been given and the confusing jumble of emotion the news brought with it. "But he's okay, right?" he pressed her anxiously, "He's not going to die or anything, is he?"

With Archie's concern so blatantly put on display, Jo offered him a sad, knowing smile. "You see? It's not so easy to stop loving Danny Desai after all. Is it?"

"I never said I wanted him to die, Jo," Archie grunted with a dismissive wave.

"No, you just wanted what was his," she countered wryly.

He leveled her with an intense look. "No," he corrected softly, "I just wanted you."

Because she was nowhere near the frame of mind to deal with that particular truth, Jo smoothly segued back to the topic at hand. "Well, anyway, that's the whole story. It wasn't one of his usual disappearing acts after all."

"I don't get it. What happened? How the hell did he get kidnapped?"

Jo shrugged. "As far as I know he was in Chinatown when a couple of guys grabbed him," she replied before adding in afterthought, "Lacey Porter was with him."

"Lacey Porter?" His brows drew together in a surprised frown. "As in Lacey Porter, the girl who had him all tied up in knots and chasing his tail for weeks? _That_ Lacey Porter?"

"That's the one."

"I thought you said that they broke up."

"That's what Danny told me. He said that they were done and that they were never getting back together." She grunted a mirthless laugh. "So much for that."

Feeling helpless to comfort her, Archie said rather weakly, "You don't know for sure that he's with her again."

"Does it matter?" she countered sullenly, "He wants her. Whether he's with her or not, Danny is _always_ going to want her. And I think that's maybe why I hate her so much...because she managed to get so easily what I've spent almost my entire life working for. What a joke!"

Jo fell silent then, waiting with a measure of dejection for the moment when Archie would crow his "I told you so." When it didn't come right away, she decided to usher him along if for no other reason than to simply get it over with. "Go on. You can say it," she encouraged softly, "You were right. Danny is never going to love me back."

"He slept with you. Of course you expected it to mean something."

"It meant _everything_. To me. But Danny? He doesn't even remember what happened," she muttered acridly, "It's his single biggest regret. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel? But you warned me, didn't you? You were right all along."

Far from rubbing in his victory, Archie instead laid a commiserative hand against her knee. "I didn't want to be right, Jo. Believe me, I didn't."

"I've loved him since I was eight years old, more than half my life," she recounted softly, "Since before I even knew or understood what love was, I had these feelings for him that were too big and too much to explain. From the very start, I knew we were connected in this profound, incredible way, that it was always supposed to be me and him. And I _really_ believed that Danny would figure that out some day too."

"It's not your fault," Archie said, "He led you on. He used you."

"He couldn't have done that if I didn't let him, if I didn't delude myself into believing that it would all be worth it in the end," she choked out, "Now all I have to show for it is a dead baby." Jo swallowed back to sobs that rose in her throat. "Maybe this is my karma for being such a liar."

"I don't believe that."

Jo stared at him with troubled blue eyes. "I do. You really turned everything upside down for me, do you know that?"

"I know. It was because I threatened what you had with Danny. I honestly wasn't trying to make your life hell, Jo. I wanted to make it _better_."

"I believe that. And, in a way, you did. You made me feel things that I didn't want to feel for anyone else besides Danny," she clarified, "And that scared me. I didn't know what to do with that and so I reacted badly. I pushed you away. I took you for granted. I manipulated you and Danny. And...I lied. I lied about everything."

"Everything like what?"

"You were right all along, Archie," she confessed gruffly, "The baby was yours and I always knew that. I knew from the beginning." She waited for that truth to sink in for him before she added yet another emotional bombshell. "We were going to have a little boy."

The revelation caused the breath to leak from Archie's lungs in a painful wheeze, releasing the dam of his pent up grief so that his anger, confusion and sorrow manifested itself in broken sobs. Jo watched with expressionless eyes as he wept the tears she wouldn't allow herself to shed. "God, Jo..." he croaked mournfully, "Was any of it real at all? Did you ever have any feelings for me or was I just a rebound from Danny this whole time?"

"I don't know what you were. I'm still trying to figure that part out."

He pinned her with a glower, his eyes glittering with recrimination. "We could have had a different ending," he said, "We _should_ have...if you had just let it happen."

"Maybe. Or maybe I would have ruined you, Archie." Jo heaved a despondent sigh, giving him a moment to collect himself before she laid out her next course of action for him. "So this is what I'm going to do...whether Danny can make it or not, if my CT scan this afternoon is clear, I'm delivering this baby tomorrow morning. I'm going to hold him and kiss him and tell him how much he was loved...and then I'm going to make plans for his funeral.

"When that's done, I will tell Danny the truth," she vowed, "I will tell him _everything_ , I swear it, just let me get through this part, okay?"

Archie replied to that with a single word, vibrating with thick emotion. "Don't."

Jo whipped to face him with a startled look. "Don't what?"

"Don't tell him," he clarified gruffly, "What good would it do at this point? He's going to grieve for the baby the same whether he knows the truth or not. It would only cause unnecessary damage now. Let's just keep it between us."

"But you said-,"

"-I wanted you to be honest with me," he said softly, "I wanted you to stop playing games and now you have. I won't ask anything more than that, Jo." He reached for her hand then and shuddered with relief when she laced her fingers with his. Their eyes met in a telling stare. "You should do what you think is best," he told her.

"Then I want you here with me tomorrow," she replied, "You should hold your son. You should say goodbye."

"Thank you. I'd like that."

Jo leaned into him then, resting her head on his shoulder as she allowed her tears to flow at last. "Thank _you_ , Archie."

They continued to weep softly together, unaware that Tara Desai lurked just outside the treatment room, listening keenly to every word.


	28. Chapter Twenty Seven

**Chapter Twenty Seven**

Lacey worried her lower lip pensively and tried not to think of the nearly two dozen ways Jo Masterson was possibly manipulating her boyfriend at that very moment. Instead, she glanced over to her younger sister who had, through much pleading, arm twisting and finally outright bribery, agreed to keep Lacey company at the hospital while Danny and Jo said goodbye to "their" baby. Lacey grunted to herself with the thought. She still had plenty of theories tripping through her mind on that particular subject but, given the tenuous circumstances, Lacey was intuitive enough to recognize that now was not the time to bring them up.

"Thanks for sitting with me again," Lacey told her sister sincerely, "I think I'd probably go out of my mind if you weren't here."

"Uh-huh, " Clara replied, clearly too engrossed in reading a dated issue of _People_ magazine to spare Lacey even a second glance. "No problem. What are sisters for? Just remember I like my cash in small bills." She snapped a warning look over the top of her magazine at Lacey. "And no quarters!"

The reply incurred a mildly exasperated eye roll from Lacey. Still, even distracted and self-absorbed, Clara proved to be better company than none at all. The last few days had been _more_ than intense. By now, Lacey was running on pure adrenaline and hadn't been allowed a single second to figuratively catch her breath. After she had spent nearly a day and a half huddled with Danny in the freezing wilderness fearing for both of their lives, their subsequent rescue had only provided them both with fleeting relief. Tension inevitably rose again when Judy Porter and Vikram Desai, having been made aware of their children's harrowing ordeal, made their way to the Pennsylvania hospital.

Her mother, after she had expressed tearful relief and gratitude that Lacey had survived with little more injury than mild hypothermia and some superficial abrasions, summarily began to question the wisdom of Lacey's involvement with Danny. Confiding to Judy that Danny might have possibly been the victim of a plot hatched by his own aunt certainly hadn't helped matters either. In fact, it only solidified Judy's belief that Danny was "too dangerous" for Lacey. After that, her mother grew a wild hair about Lacey keeping her distance which, in turn, only made Lacey more determined to stay by Danny's side. Her innate distrust of Vikram Desai only strengthened that determination, much to her mother's consternation. It made for a very strained mother-daughter reunion.

And then the news had come about Jo's accident and things had quickly gone from bad to worse. Judy Porter was barely able to absorb the startling revelation that her daughter's boyfriend was having a baby with another girl when she was informed in that very same breath that the mother had suffered a terrible accident and the baby had died. It was the worst possible scenario that Lacey could imagine. There was little she could do to stop her mother from forming several unflattering opinions of Danny. Further, Lacey wasn't given too much time to contemplate how the news would affect a still healing Danny because her mother was continually haranguing her about the poor judgment she'd shown by getting involved with Danny in the first place.

Before Danny could even receive the all clear to be released from the hospital, Judy was insisting on taking Lacey back to Green Grove, obviously intent on separating her daughter from the young man who had seemed to cause her so many problems in such a short time. Her strong arm tactics definitely hadn't gone over well with Lacey, who stubbornly refused to leave Danny's side even if it meant incurring her mother's righteous anger. At the time, Lacey hadn't been able to imagine the emotional hell Danny must have been going through and she hadn't wanted to leave him to process it on his own. In the end, however, it was Danny himself, still numb from the news about Jo, who had convinced her to go. Things were already bad enough, he'd reasoned, and she shouldn't make it worse by alienating her mother.

Ultimately, because it was her desire not to upset Danny further, Lacey acquiesced to her mother's demands that they return home. However, on the long drive there, Lacey had made it more than clear to Judy that she had no intention of ending her relationship with Danny and, if necessary, would move out before she allowed her mother to interfere. While she had been expecting a fight following that declaration, Judy had surprisingly resigned herself to the idea. She made it clear that while she didn't like the idea of Lacey and Danny being together and harbored misgivings about Lacey's choice to stand by him, she would respect Lacey's choice. "That boy comes with a lot of baggage," she said, "I hope you know what you're getting yourself into," she had then added in final warning.

Lacey found herself thinking about that now. Just what the hell _had_ she gotten herself into? She loved Danny. They shared an incredible bond that had been strengthened by thousands of years, a love that had defied time and death. He was a part of her soul and she couldn't excise him from her heart even if she wanted to do so. Still, she'd be lying to herself if she didn't admit that there was a part of her that was thoroughly frustrated with him now and it seemed that part grew bigger and bigger as the minutes passed.

Predictably, Danny had become obsessed with "being there for Jo" since the moment he found out about her and the baby. All consideration of her possible deception was instantly forgotten. Instead, he took the blame for what happened to her squarely on his own shoulders. He had lamented not being there when she needed him and pretty much descended into a vat of guilt and self-loathing when he contemplated her going through such a heart-wrenching ordeal alone.

Though Lacey had pointed out to him again and again that Jo hadn't been alone, that her parents had been at her bedside the entire time, Danny seemed to believe that helping Jo navigate through her grief should have been his responsibility alone. Lacey hadn't been surprised then when he called her early that very morning to tell her he was coming home and then asked her in the same sentence to meet him at the hospital. He knew he wasn't going to make it in time for the delivery but he definitely wanted to be there for the aftermath. According to Danny, Jo needed him and he, in turn, needed Lacey and so she, in turn, was essentially stuck. And thereby was the source of Lacey's unending frustration.

She couldn't understand how Danny had seemingly put aside all the possible lies Jo may have told him, particularly about the baby. Did none of that matter anymore because the baby had died? Maybe it shouldn't matter, Lacey reasoned to herself. Maybe Jo had suffered enough with the death of her baby. Maybe she should, like Danny had apparently done, just let it all go.

Lacey contemplated the answers to those questions carefully but when she thought about being pressed into Tutankhamun's mattress with Ankhesenamun's fingers wrapped around her throat, helpless to protect herself or her unborn child, Lacey couldn't give in. Lacey couldn't let it go...not when her every instinct screamed that AnkhensenaJo was still every bit the deceitful, conniving, murderous bitch she'd always been. Danny couldn't see it. He had forgotten or explained it away or convinced himself that Jo was somehow a different person. But Lacey? She would _never_ forget...and she would never forgive. Jo had used a dead child to manipulate Danny once before in another lifetime. Lacey would be damned if she stood aside and watched it happen all over again.

For now, however, she recognized the wisdom in holding her tongue. Too mired in guilt and grief, Danny would be in no frame of mind to listen to her reasoning on the matter right then anyway. He so filled with determination to help Jo that he hadn't really stopped to give any attention to his own well being, not even proving that his aunt was trying to murder him. And, since he wasn't thinking about himself, it was up to Lacey to do that.

She would wait for an opportune time and give him some space to absorb all that had happened in the last few days but after that she would remind him of the need for the truth. He _had_ to see Jo for who she really was otherwise he would always be vulnerable to her machinations. He might never be able to sever ties with her and his inability to do so in that first lifetime had proved deadly. This time he simply _had_ to do it. There was no other choice. Unfortunately, Lacey couldn't shake the niggling fear that convincing Danny of that might be easier said than done.

The sudden snap of a magazine hitting a nearby table abruptly jolted Lacey from her brooding thoughts and she glanced up to find her sister regarding her with a bored expression. "I don't want to sound insensitive or anything," Clara prefaced, pretty much alluding to the fact her next statement was going to be the height of insensitivity, "but...exactly how long does it take to say goodbye to a fetus? Danny's been in there for hours! Shouldn't that kid be in the morgue by now?"

Lacey shrugged, not quite as impatient as her younger sister but not at all offended by her question either. While the baby's death had been tragic and sad there was also no undoing it. After saying goodbye, bestowing sweet kisses, holding the child and possibly taking pictures, what else was there? Those very questions had been buzzing around in her head since the moment they began approaching hour four but Lacey was loathe to admit that aloud.

"Jo was only a couple of months away from delivery," she reasoned aloud instead, "If the situation was different and she had actually gone into premature labor, the baby might have actually survived. When you lose a child, the idea of sending them off to a morgue can't be easy."

Clara grunted. "You're a way better person than me."

"I just know what it's like to lose a baby," Lacey murmured.

That admission caused Clara's eyes to flare wide. "Do you? Since when?" Lacey realized her misstep only a split second before Clara started firing questions at her. "When did it happen? With who? Was it Chris or Danny? Did you have an abortion? Oh my God, Lacey, does Mom know? Tell me you didn't go through something like that alone!"

"Clara! Get it a grip." When her sister, at long last, closed her mouth, Lacey prevaricated, "I...I wasn't talking about _me_ personally but rather the patients that have come through the hospital when I'm volunteering."

She didn't exactly know how to explain to her sister that, in another life, she had once been brutally murdered while pregnant and that lost child was the one she found herself grieving. Clara would think she was certifiably nuts. Lying, therefore, seemed to be the easier way to go. Thankfully, Clara didn't question her about it any further, her fertile mind already veering to another topic entirely.

Clara scooted closer to Lacey, her tone dropping to a whisper when she asked, "So how do you feel about all of this?"

"How do I feel about what?"

Annoyed by what she thought was Lacey being deliberately obtuse, Clara made a face. "You know what I'm asking you. Now that Jo's not pregnant anymore, you and Danny shouldn't have any more obstacles to being together."

"What are you asking me right now? Do you think I wanted the baby to die?"

"Did you?" Lacey responded to that with understandable reproach. "Calm down," Clara soothed, "It's just you and me here, Lacey. I'm not judging you. Jo has been a pain in your ass since the beginning. I won't think less of you if that's how you felt, even if it was only for a little while."

"No! I didn't wish for that baby's death, Clara!" she retorted, aghast, "What kind of heartless monster do you think I am?"

"I don't think it makes you heartless or a monster to not want your boyfriend tied to another woman by a kid, especially if that woman is a manipulative bitch," Clara replied mildly, "I think it makes you human."

"That doesn't mean I wanted the baby to die," Lacey argued weakly.

"But it _did_. And now you and Danny can be together without this Jo girl being a shadow all the time."

"It's so much more complicated than that, Clare."

"I know that." Clara reached over for a copy of _Us_ and flipped it open. "The next couple of weeks are probably going to be pretty rough with Danny being all delicate and sensitive but you'll be there for him. You'll kiss his booboos or whatever and then _after that_ ," she considered in between perusing the magazine articles, "it should be smooth sailing for you."

Lacey was still shaking her head over her sister's simplistic summation of events when their solitude in the L&D waiting room was abruptly altered by the arrival of a newcomer. She started to spare a polite glance at the stranger before reaching for her own magazine to pass the time and immediately froze. Lacey's heart rate accelerated slightly as she realized the face that greeted her was a vaguely familiar one.

The young man was good-looking, tall, lean and blonde but his looks weren't what captured Lacey's attention. It was the expression of abject misery on his face. His blue eyes were made all the more so by their red rims and the current sallow cast of his complexion. It was obvious that he had been crying. But even with his mildly bloated features and scruffy five o'clock shadow, Lacey had no trouble placing the young man. She had seen his face plenty of times in Danny's photos.

"You're Archie," she determined softly when he took the empty seat directly across from her.

Startled by that pronouncement, Archie straightened in his seat and favored Lacey with a curious frown. "I'm sorry...do I know you?"

Lacey thrust her hand forward in greeting. "I'm Lacey," she said before inclining a nod towards her younger sibling, "And this is my sister Clara." The two exchanged cursory "heys" before Lacey added, "I recognize you from Danny's pictures."

Archie relaxed then and reached out to shake her hand, the corner of his mouth lifted in a slight smile. "Oh, so you're the girlfriend I've heard so much about," he concluded in a murmur.

"Yep. I'm the girlfriend," Lacey confirmed, "We...uh...actually met once but you probably don't remember." Archie squinted at her as he tried to recall the moment in question. "You had come here to the hospital," she reminded him before adding rather meaningfully, "...to see _Jo_."

His expression closed off a little with that. "Oh...well, you know Danny, Jo and I go way back. Lot of history there."

"Is that why you're here?"

He bit his lip, as if attempting the staunch the emotion welling up inside of him. "Yeah. Jo needs all the support she can get right now. She's pretty bad off."

"But you're out here in the lobby," Lacey observed, "Why aren't you back in the room with her?"

"She and Danny needed some time alone to talk," he answered gruffly, "Besides things were getting a little tense between Danny and me. I'm sure you already know that we're not on good terms at the moment. Jo doesn't need the added stress so I decided to get out of there for a while."

"Seems like you care about her a lot."

"I do."

"What about Danny?"

"What about him?"

It was impossible to mistake the edge in his question. "I don't know, I just think it's sad that you and Danny are fighting at a time like this," Lacey remarked in a thoughtful tone, "He's going through a lot right now. He could use all of his friends around him. He needs support too."

"I doubt that includes me. Things are pretty complicated between Danny and me," Archie said, "Sometimes people grow apart."

"But not you and Jo," Lacey observed rather astutely, "I didn't realize that you and Jo were so close to each other. I've always been under the impression that you two only tolerated each other for Danny's benefit."

Archie's countenance became positively stony then. "What exactly would you know about it?" he snapped irritably, "You've been in Danny's life less than six months! You're hardly an expert!"

"You're right. I don't know Danny as well as you and Jo. I guess I'm just trying to understand why you and he barely speak anymore while Jo seems to have your unflagging support."

"It's not easy being Danny Desai's friend, okay!" Archie retorted defensively, "He tends to put the people who love him through hell. Jo and I both know how that feels. We've both been on the receiving end of his crap more than once. I guess we've more or less bonded over Danny's jerkiness in the last couple of years."

"So what? You two get together and rag on Danny behind his back? Some friends you are!"

While it was clear that Archie was irritated by her judgmental tone, he made a conscious effort to maintain his cool. "Look, I get it," he murmured, "Your relationship with Danny is all new and shiny and you're in that phase where you believe that he can do no wrong, but...Danny has demons. A lot of them and he's screwed up in ways you can't imagine. When you have to deal with years of _that_ , then you can come at me about what kind of friend I've been to him!"

"If he's 'screwed up' as you say, maybe it's because he can't trust the people who claim to love him!" Lacey hissed angrily.

Clara suddenly set aside her magazine and shifted to her feet. "And on that note," she announced, "I think I'll go get something from the vending machine." Over the course of Lacey and Archie's increasingly volatile conversation, Clara had been becoming more and more uncomfortable. When she recognized that things were about to truly get ugly, however, she decided to bow out rather than linger as an unwilling witness. "You two seem like you have a lot to hash out, so I'll leave you to it."

When she was gone, Lacey found herself under Archie's penetrating scrutiny. "Are you always so judgmental of people you barely even know?"

"I'm only speaking out of concern for Danny."

"He's a big boy!" Archie retorted, "He can take care of himself!"

"What happened between you two?" Lacey wondered aloud, "Danny once told me that you were his best friend and one of the people he trusted most in this world. What happened to you?"

"Trust is a two way street, Lacey."

"You're saying that you don't trust Danny? _Really?_ "

"I'm saying that you don't know him as well as you think you do! You sure as hell don't know about the crap he's put me and Jo through!"

"Like what?"

"Who do you think sobered him up when he would go on three day benders or scraped together the money to bail him out of jail when his family would leave him there to rot?" Archie grated, "Jo and I have always been better friends to Danny than he has been to us!"

"I'm not saying he's perfect..."

"No, you're just trying to paint him as the victim to my villain," Archie interrupted harshly, "and that's not remotely how it went down."

"So you tell me how it went down," Lacey challenged, "Because, from Danny's perspective, you just suddenly stopped talking to him."

Archie leaned back in his chair with a weary sigh. "Maybe I just got tired of his crap."

"That's it?" Lacey snorted, "Years of friendship flushed down the tubes because you 'got tired of his crap?'"

"Sorry if that's not good enough for you," he replied with a shrug.

"It has nothing to do with that. I just happen to think you're lying."

He fixed her with a sharp glare. "Excuse me?"

"I think there's more to the story than what you're saying," she went on sagely, "You don't sound like someone who just wanted to cut ties with Danny. You sound like someone who resents him."

"You don't know me," Archie scoffed, "And you sure as hell don't know him."

"You keep saying that but, I'm starting to believe that it's _Danny_ who doesn't know _you_!" Lacey retorted, "Or Jo, for that matter."

Archie tensed with the veiled accusation. "Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means I think that you and Jo are a lot closer than you're letting on," Lacey said, "It means I think that was _your_ baby she lost, not Danny's."

In that split second a look of uneasy horror flitted across Archie's chalk white features before he quickly masked it behind an inscrutable facade. "Does Danny have any idea how insane you are?" he uttered, "I hope you haven't gone to him with that crap!"

"Don't deflect," Lacey replied softly, "We both know it's true." As his expression hardened even further, she abruptly switched her tactics to cajolery. "Come on, Archie, there's no one here but us right now. You can drop the facade. Your kid just died. Don't you want to be free to grieve for him? Don't you want to be able to claim him as your own? Are you really going to let Jo take that away from you?"

He glanced away from her, his jaw tight. "You're sick."

"I'm right," Lacey countered tersely, "And you know it."

Archie glowered at her. "What I _know_ is that Jo lost her son! What I know is that she's _devastated_!" he grated, "This is not the time to voice some vicious theory about her kid's paternity just because you feel insecure! If you can't muster up some sympathy for her, at least have some for Danny! He lost a kid too, you know!"

"And what about you?"

"I told you to drop it," Archie warned darkly, "I'm serious, Lacey. You hurt Jo and I hurt you."

Lacey reared back in surprise, stunned by the menace underscoring his statement. "Are you threatening me?"

"I'm _promising_ you. I'll do whatever I have to do to protect her."

"You sound like you love her," Lacey murmured without thinking.

"And what if I do?" Archie challenged in retort.

Without preamble, his challenge triggered a long forgotten memory in Lacey. She could distinctly remember standing on the outskirts of Tutankhamun's royal court and watching in shock as the man she loved mercilessly plunged a dagger into the belly of his boyhood friend. However, what stood out in her mind wasn't the conflicted expression of sorrow, grief and anger that had haunted Khaten's features at the moment when Ka crumpled at his feet but the keening cry of a mournful Ankhesenamun as she had cradled Ka's dying body in her arms.

She could see the way Ka had clung to her hand desperately as the lifeblood leaked out of him. No one had needed to tell her in that moment that Ka and Ankhesenamun's marriage union hadn't been born out of convenience alone. It was clear from Ankhesenamun's inconsolable grief that she had loved Ka, just as it was clear from the way Ka had looked at her as he was dying that he had loved her in return. That was the reason Lacey knew unequivocally as she looked at Archie right then that she was staring into the eyes of Ka's reincarnated form. The realization shook her to her very core.

"Oh...my...god..." she uttered in disbelief as the truth settled upon her heavily, "It's you. It's happening again. I can't believe it's happening all over again."

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" Archie sighed impatiently.

Lacey stared at him with a mixture of shock and astonishment, feeling as if she were only truly seeing him for the first time. "You've hated him for centuries, haven't you?" she whispered aloud mournfully, "Is that what carried you through? Is that how you're here right now?"

Archie snorted. "Now you're just being weird and melodramatic. This has nothing to do with hating Danny! I'm not thinking about him at all! I want to do what's best for Jo."

"Tell me the truth! Do you know who he is?" Lacey pressed, "Who _she_ is? Is that why all of this is happening again? What are you after? Is this some sick attempt at revenge?"

"Now, I know for sure that you're crazy," Archie muttered, half in exasperation and half in genuine concern, "Look, I don't know what the hell it is that you're going through but keep it to yourself. Stay away from Jo." He shifted to his feet in a clear evidence of dismissal. "She doesn't need your drama right now."

He exited the lobby just as Clara returned with an armful of snacks. "Whoa," she said as Archie stomped past her, "Did the temperature in here just drop 20 degrees or what?" However, her wry humor dissipated entirely when she looked down at Lacey and noted her sister's stricken expression. Lacey looked as if she had seen a ghost. Her body was visibly trembling.

Clara immediately dropped her chips and cookies into the closest chair and knelt down before her sister, grabbing hold of both Lacey's hands. "Are you okay?" she fretted softly, "What did that asshole say to you, Lacey?"

Recovering her composure was a difficult task and Lacey failed miserably in the attempt. Unconvincingly, she replied, "N-Nothing. He didn't say anything."

"Stop lying," Clara admonished, "You look like you've been kicked in the stomach. What happened just now?"

Lacey stared at her with vacant eyes. "Have you ever had the feeling that something horrible was going to happen and that there was nothing on earth you could do to stop it?"

"I don't understand what you're asking me."

Sensing her sister's growing confusion and worry, Lacey forced a smile. "Forget I said anything. Archie was being a jerk and I let him get to me," she lied shakily, "I'm fine now."

But Lacey was far from fine and she knew it. She doubted she would ever be "fine" again. She was too consumed with fear and dismay that the past, every dark, tragic, painful bit of it, was destined to repeat itself in the present.


	29. Chapter Twenty Eight

**A/N: So, um, things are about to get bumpy. Sorry. And just for reference, I am not trying to repeat the past specifically but trying to draw parallels instead. I am also sticking to themes that made Twisted, well twisted. Just some forewarning for you guys. My writing mojo is back.**

 **P.S. Thank you for the well wishes. I am feeling much, much better now. It was ugly there for a while. Thank you guys for understanding and hanging in there when the updates became so sporadic. It meant a lot. Anyway, let's get on with it, lol.**

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty Eight**

Lacey yanked open the front door before Danny even had an opportunity to knock. "So how'd it go?" she demanded in lieu of a greeting. She impatiently ushered him into the foyer. "Tell me everything."

With her assistance, Danny slipped out of his jacket with a weary sigh and watched as Lacey hung it up on a nearby coat-rack. "Tara is officially out of my house as of this morning," he replied, "Of course, my dad is furious. He accused me of being on drugs again, said I was acting paranoid and delusional."

She was disappointed to hear the news but not entirely surprised. Danny had already warned her that he thought he might have some resistance from Vikram Desai, who had always proven reluctant when believing the worst about his sister. Still, Lacey ached when she thought of how Vikram's skepticism must have devastated Danny.

"Give him time, okay," she encouraged, leading him off into the living room, "We'll find the evidence to tie her to our kidnapping and, when we do, he won't have any choice but to consider that you're telling him the truth."

Despite her reassurance, Danny's expression remained lackluster and depressingly devoid of hope. However, after taking a seat on the sofa, he dutifully answered, "Maybe you're right. We'll see what happens in the next few weeks." But the lack of conviction in his tone was apparent even to his own ears. Lacey regarded him with a worried frown but knew he would evade answering if she questioned him about his feelings.

Cringing inwardly from the pity he read on her face and wanting to talk, think about _anything_ else, Danny bounced a cursory glance around the living room, noting for the first time since he'd arrived how unnaturally quiet the house seemed. "Where's your mom?"

"She and Clara left to go shopping about twenty minutes ago," Lacey told him, "We have the house all to ourselves for a few hours."

The prospect was seductive but Danny couldn't help shifting in his seat uneasily nonetheless. "I don't know, Lace," he hedged uncomfortably, "Your mom's not too fond of me after the whole kidnapping thing. It probably wouldn't be a good idea for her to come home and find us here together like this."

"She and Clara won't be back for awhile. Trust me," Lacey reassured him, "If it makes you feel better, you can leave before they get here."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

Lacey snuggled against his side, resting her cheek against his chest. "I don't want you to go yet."

"You might change your mind about that," he warned her wryly, "I'm lousy company today."

In answer to that, Lacey pressed even closer, happily burying herself in his warmth when she felt his arms go around her tightly. "I'll risk it."

Two weeks had passed since the kidnapping and the death of Jo's baby and, since then, Danny had lived under constant media scrutiny. The gossip rags and tv tabloids couldn't get enough of the salacious story he presented to them, the young grandson of the late and great Aravinda Desai, heir apparent to the vast Desai fortune, abducted and terrorized the same week he lost his unborn child. Television crews and photographers had been camped out in front of the Desai compound ever since the news broke, waiting greedily for a glimpse of the grieving Danny Desai.

While the media had readily acknowledged the Desai family's request for privacy during their tragic, family ordeal that hadn't stopped them from speculating on Danny's past missteps, from his numerous arrests to his very public struggle with drugs and alcohol. They theorized that perhaps his relationship with Jo Masterson, the only daughter of his grandfather's personal accountant, had been responsible for his recent turnaround and newfound maturity while in the same breath implying that he might not be able to continue resisting the lure of his past vices in the wake of so much loss.

The idea that _Jo_ would be credited with any of the changes that Danny had made on his own and by his own willpower galled Lacey greatly but what ultimately left her sleepless and anxious was the fear that there might be a thread of truth to the media's speculation. Could Danny possibly buckle under the weight of so much stress? Was he being burdened with too much? She couldn't deny that he had begun to change over the course of the ensuing weeks.

He was becoming increasingly withdrawn and moody, often snapping at her without provocation or cause. Even his appearance was beginning to show signs of weariness. His eyes were constantly plagued with dark rings of exhaustion, his clothing was often wrinkled and disheveled. It was as if he had stopped caring about himself altogether. However, whenever Lacey tried to mention that or get him to talk about his feelings at all, the conversation would inevitably degenerate into an angry exchange or he would simply shut down altogether. Lacey told herself again and again that it wasn't _her_ that Danny was frustrated with but the situation in general. Nevertheless, it was difficult not to take his bad temper personally especially when it always seemed to be directed at _her_.

But she had to be patient, she reminded herself. Danny hadn't had an easy time of it. Whether Jo's child was his or not, he was still grieving for the baby as if his own. He had pinned his hopes on that child, had been determined to give the baby a better childhood than the one he had known. He had grown invested and now that the baby was dead, he was feeling lost in his purpose. In addition to that, he was dealing with constant strain at home, being at odds with his father over Tara. His dissatisfaction and hopelessness only grew even more because it seemed that Tara was getting away with her crimes.

The quest to locate their kidnapper had been heavily hampered when the cabin where they had been held was reduced to little more than a smoking ash heap, taking whatever evidence it had housed with it. The fire had been ruled as arson but no suspects had come to the fore. The one person who might have been able to shed some light, the man who had taken them in the first place, had simply vanished into the ether. No information had been gathered about his identity or his whereabouts. As a result, the investigation into their abduction had grown stagnant due to a lack of new leads. Danny was steadfastly convinced that his aunt was trying to kill him but he had nothing at all to offer as proof. It was little wonder he walked around in a state of perpetual anger. He had to feel quite powerless these days.

Given all of that, she hadn't dared to bring up her suspicions about Archie to him. He was already dealing with enough. She didn't need to add her morbid theories about Archie and Jo and how they might be setting out to deliberately ruin his life and cause him pain. He wasn't ready to hear about that. Even _she_ wasn't ready to face the idea that she and Danny might not have been brought back together to make the life together they had once been denied but rather to allow Archie to exact revenge against them based on his perception of their crimes against him. If that was true, Lacey thought, the gods, if they even existed, were indeed a cruel bunch.

Her heart aching with sympathy for Danny and heavy with fear for him as well, Lacey reached over to sift her fingertips lightly through the curling hair at his temple. "What do you want to do?" she asked him softly.

"What can I do?" he muttered unhappily, "He's always going to take her side over mine. That's the way it's always been since I can remember."

"Does it honestly think you'd accuse her for no reason?"

"He doesn't think it's 'no reason,'" Danny replied, "He thinks I'm accusing her out of spite, because I hate her. As far as my dad is concerned, I'm the screw-up and Tara is the angel who can do no wrong."

"But why? I don't get it!"

"She's his sister," Danny said, as if that were explanation enough.

"So what? You're his son," Lacey pointed out tartly, "Why is he willing to give Tara the benefit of the doubt but not you?"

Danny shook his head, discerning exactly where Lacey was heading with that argument. "You don't understand," he told her, "My father's childhood wasn't anywhere close to ideal. My grandfather was not a good or nice man. He made his children's lives hell. According to my father, Tara protected him when they were growing up. She took the beatings and the verbal abuse so he wouldn't have to."

"So, he feels like he owes her something," Lacey surmised softly.

"He feels like he owes her _everything_."

"I suppose you would understand that better than most, wouldn't you?" she muttered, surprised by the level of bitterness that colored her tone.

Danny blinked at her, stunned by that fact as well. "What are you saying?"

Lacey opened her mouth to answer him but then, at the last moment, thought better of bringing up her irritation with him over his inexplicable loyalty to Jo, past and present versions, and snapped her mouth shut instead. "Nothing," she mumbled with a sigh, "I'm just being moody. That's all." Hoping to lessen the sting of her earlier words, she leaned forward to peck a kiss to his lips only to rear back from him a second later with a startled frown. "Have you been drinking?"

He ducked his head a little sheepishly, acutely aware of the censure in her tone. "A little bit," he told her, "It was only a few beers, Lace. That's all."

"But it's ten o'clock in the morning!" she protested.

Danny shrugged. "It's happy hour somewhere."

"And you _drove_ over here?" Lacey went on, clearly horrified.

"It's not like I'm drunk or anything!" he flared in self-defense, "I had like three or four beers. That's nothing to me." When she continued to stare at him like a fork-tongued demon, Danny's defensive walls became even higher. "Stop looking at me like that! Geez! I know better than to drive drunk, Lacey! Give me some freaking credit, okay! My morning was complete hell! I needed something to take the edge off! It's not like I'm stumbling over my own feet or anything!"

"That's not the point! Danny, you can't get behind the wheel after you've been drinking! What if you'd gotten into a car accident?"

"But I didn't, okay!"

"This time!" she flung back.

"God, Lace," he grunted, "Are _you_ going to lecture me now too?"

Wanting to avoid yet another fight with him, Lacey swallowed down her consternation and said as calmly as she could, "I'm not trying to lecture you. I'm concerned, okay. I don't want you using alcohol as a crutch to deal with your problems."

He scoffed under his breath. "And now you're head-shrinking me!"

"I'm not doing that either! I'm worried about you!"

"Why? Because I had a few drinks?" he cried incredulously.

"No! Because you've been acting weird ever since we came back to Green Grove!"

" _My son died!_ " he flared angrily, "Sorry if I'm not getting over that fast enough for you!"

Lacey snapped to attention with a wounded gasp. "That's not what I said," she bit out in a furious hiss, "Don't put words in my mouth!"

"Then stop riding my back!" he muttered in irritation, "God, you're worse than Jo!"

"What about her?" Lacey asked, suddenly bristling with suspicion, "Have you been talking to her or something? Have you seen her?"

"God, not this again!"

"Yes, _this_ again," Lacey snapped, "Have you been in contact with her or not?"

"Yeah, actually, I have!"

Danny flinched at her hurt expression, his features flickering with guilt. He felt awful having caused her pain but, at the same time, he resented her because it seemed to him that he had been placed in an untenable situation. It was as if Lacey believed that his showing kindness to Jo meant that he was choosing Jo over her and that wasn't remotely the case. Unfortunately, he couldn't simply cut Jo out of his life, not after all that had happened, no matter how much Lacey might expect it. And because he knew that and he knew the disappointment that knowledge would cause Lacey, Danny became defensive because it was easier to be angry at her than it was to concede her fears.

Lacey slipped from the sofa then, her slender frame tense with rage and fear. "I thought we talked about this, Danny," she uttered with surprising calm, "We agreed that you shouldn't trust Jo because you don't know what her motives are. We agreed you wouldn't make yourself vulnerable to her."

He whispered her name in a soft, expulsion of breath, not speaking again until she met his eyes. "Jo and I lost a baby together."

"It's not the first time," she pointed out stonily.

Danny looked away, his expression distant and cold. "This isn't like back then."

"How do you know?" Lacey challenged, "You never had a paternity test! You don't have one shred of proof that baby was yours! For all you know, Jo could be lying to you about everything!"

"Does that even matter anymore?"

Lacey was surprised that her head didn't pop off and orbit the living room with that question. "What do you mean?" she cried incredulously, "Of course it matters!"

"Why does it?" Danny challenged maddeningly, "The baby is dead, Lacey. We've had his funeral and he's been buried. And do you know what name is on his headstone? _Daniel Aran Desai II._ Does his paternity really matter at this point? Why can't we leave it alone?"

"Because Jo is still using that baby to manipulate you!" Lacey retorted angrily, "That's why we can't leave it alone! You're playing right into her hands, Danny!"

His expression became shuttered with denial. "No. I think you're wrong. I think you're accusing Jo based purely on your experiences with her in the past and that's not fair to her! What Ankhesenamun did back then was indefensible but, Lacey, that happened over _three thousand_ years ago. You can't keep punishing Jo for the past."

"I'm not doing that!" Lacey denied hotly, "And I'm _not_ punishing her! Everything I feel about her is based on what I know _now_ , what I learned in _this_ life! Jo didn't even know me two minutes before she was trying to manipulate me and warn me away from you! It's the same m.o. she used back then! She hasn't changed at all!"

"And what the hell do you think she has to gain, huh?" Danny snapped in exasperation, "You can't say that she's after my money. She moved out of the house right after Danny's funeral! She hasn't made a single pass at me either, so you can't accuse her of trying to get into my bed. So what is it then?"

"Are you really this blind?" Lacey seethed.

"Lace, come on. Be reasonable about this," he replied in a persuasive tone, his anger subdued for the moment, "Back then, I was a pharaoh with an entire kingdom at stake! Back then, she was acting to protect our bloodline and our family's dynasty! What motive do you think she could possibly have for lying to me now?"

"Danny, don't you see? All of that stuff about dynasties and bloodlines was a convenient excuse for her, even back then," she uttered in conviction, "This has always been about _your_ affection and _your_ attention. Ankhesenamun didn't want to share you then and she doesn't want to share you now."

"It's not a contest, Lacey!"

"Well, it sure as hell _feels_ like it!"

"I love _you_. That's always been true and it will always _be_ true!"

"But you trust _her_ ," she pointed out sadly, "She still has your loyalty and that's what scares me the most because she's dangerous, Danny. She's as dangerous as she's ever been."

"She just lost a baby. She's not thinking about hurting me _or_ you."

"You see, that's where you're wrong," Lacey scoffed sadly, "Ankhesenamun was at her most deadly after her last miscarriage. She tried to kill me twice and she succeeded the second time. If you think that I'm ever going to forget that then you're out of your mind!"

"It was a different life, a different time and with different circumstances."

"Not so different with both her and Ka hanging around here, now is it?"

"Ka?" Danny's brow scrunched in confusion. "What the hell does he have to do with this?"

"Haven't you figured it out yet, Khaten?" she grated impatiently, "Archie _is_ Ka!"

Lacey regretted the words almost the instant they left her lips, long before she glimpsed Danny's stricken expression. She hadn't meant to blurt the truth out to him that way, hadn't meant to burden him with it at all but now that the words had been spoken out loud there was no taking them back. Lacey swallowed thickly, her entire body trembling with expended adrenaline as she waited for Danny to respond.

"Wha...why would you say that?" he asked in a hoarse whisper when he found his voice.

"Because it's true," she replied quietly, "Don't tell me you can't feel it too."

"No," he mumbled, shaking his head, "You're wrong. You have to be wrong."

"I had a hard time believing it at first too," she admitted, "But the way he talks about Jo, the loyalty he has for her..." She trailed off into silence as she tried to formulate her thoughts, voice them in a way that Danny could comprehend. "I know that I didn't know him as well as you did or even at all. But I _do_ remember how Ka and Ankhesenamun held each other when he was dying on the throne room floor. The way he looked at her was the way Archie looked when he was talking about Jo."

Danny averted his eyes with a rough swallow, as something occurred to him, something that had been niggling at him for weeks now, something he had steadfastly ignored until that very moment. "When we were in the treatment room with Jo after the delivery," he recounted in a wooden tone, "He and I had a fight about him hanging around so much. I told him that he was insinuating himself into a situation where he didn't belong. I remember having this familiar sense at the time, this weird moment...like we'd had that same argument before, only in another lifetime."

Overwhelmed, Lacey sank back down beside him on the sofa. "So you have felt it too?"

He jerked a nod. "Yeah, I've felt it. With him. With my father." He looked at her with glassy eyes. "With Tara."

"Tara?"

"What if I told you that sometimes I think my aunt Tara might be the high priest Amun?"

Lacey shrank back from his words, cringing at the very thought. "No. No way..."

"It's not a certainty but sometimes I can't shake the feeling." His eyes took a far off look as he continued, "I murdered him just hours before he could execute a coup against me. He resented me, felt that I had stolen Egypt from him even though Egypt was rightfully mine...just the way Tara feels like I stole Desai Corp. from her." He shivered with the implications.

But then, just as soon as he had voiced the hypothesis aloud, Danny quickly began scrambling to explain it away. "But who knows? Maybe I'm only seeing what I want to see. With everything that's been happening with her lately, maybe I'm just being paranoid."

"What if you're not?" Lacey considered shakily, "What if you're right?"

"I don't want to be right," he mumbled.

"But what if?"

"That would mean that the gods have brought that murderous traitor back into my life and I can only imagine that it's for one reason, because they mean for me to die," he uttered, "...all over again."

"No, Danny..." Lacey protested again, "That can't be the reason."

"What other explanation is there? Why else would we be living this nightmare again?" he cried, "Only this time it's a slightly different version."

"I don't know."

Danny tipped his head back and closed his eyes, causing tears to leak from the corners of his lashes. "I don't want to believe this is my destiny again. I _can't_ believe it!"

"You need to talk to Jo," Lacey urged him fervently, "You need to find out the truth."

His eyes snapped open at that, wild with denial. "No. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to accuse her of being a liar based on things that happened in the past!"

"Then don't accuse her of that! But, at least, confront her about the baby! You deserve that much!"

He set his jaw firmly. "I'm not going to do that either."

Lacey checked the impulse to throttle him on the spot. "Danny, you can't do this! You can't just bury your head in the sand!" she cried, "Neither of us can afford to be in denial here! What if Jo has known all along who you were? What if _everyone_ has known? What if this is all a set up to destroy you?"

"No! Just drop it!" he said, his countenance suddenly remote and hostile, "I don't want to talk about it anymore!"

She gaped at him as if he'd just sprouted a horn in the middle of his forehead. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"What do you want me to do, Lacey? Just accept that Jo and Archie are out to destroy my life? That I have no control over anything that happens to me?"

"I'd be happy if you'd even consider the possibility that you're being threatened!"

"Maybe I just don't see things the way you do!"

"Or maybe you just like being blind!"

"Oh, screw you, Lacey! You have no idea what's between Jo, Archie and me or the kind of history we share so would you just stop meddling and mind your own business!"

That outburst did what nothing else had succeeded in doing, it rendered Lacey speechless. It wasn't the first time he had lashed out at her recently but, for some reason, this particular time hurt worse than all the others...maybe because she knew he was making a conscious choice to live in denial. Without another word, she scooted to the opposite end of the sofa and drew her knees up to her chest, fighting back tears. Danny regarded her with a mournful, sideways glance.

"I'm sorry," he said gruffly after a few moments, "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I didn't mean it."

"Maybe you should just go," she replied in a tight voice, "You were right. You _are_ lousy company." A little stung by her rejection, Danny inched his way closer to her. But when he tried to touch her, she flinched away from his hand with an angry glower. "I said _go_!"

"Lacey, please," he pleaded with her hoarsely. He rested his forehead against her stiffened shoulder when she didn't respond. "Please don't give up on me too. You're all I have. You're everything. I can't lose you." He blinked at her with large, beseeching eyes. "Don't be mad at me. _Please_."

Despite her resolve, Lacey felt tears of remorse slip down her cheeks. "Don't you get that I'm only trying to protect you?" she whispered, "I don't want us to lose each other again either."

He kissed her shoulder apologetically, nuzzling there. "I know that..." he mumbled into her skin. He tugged her into his lap, cradling her close against him to place nibbling bites to the tops of her breasts. "I know that you mean well. I'm just...I'm not ready to deal with it. Give me some time. I don't want to think about anything else right now except being here with you."

Compelled by the sweetness of his words and his touch, Lacey drew him into her body and allowed him to soothe her resentment and hurt with tender kisses. She let herself be seduced by his warmth and his love and her own desperate need to be close to him. And, in the end, she let him gather her closer and undress her and touch and kiss her in all the intimate places that he knew best. She held onto him tightly as he thrust himself inside of her again and again, burying her face in his damp shoulder as he gasped out broken "I love you's" against her ear. And after they rode the crest of their tandem orgasm together, she cradled his limp body against her own and gently stroked his tangled hair as he dozed lightly, all the while overcome with the portentous certainty that her world was about to fall apart.


	30. Chapter Twenty Nine

**Chapter Twenty Nine**

"...becoming more and more out of control every day! Surely, you can see that, Vikram!"

Danny stopped short just outside of his father's study when he thought he heard Tara's raised voice just beyond the open door. Hers was the last voice he expected, especially since he had made it quite clear that Tara Desai was no longer welcome in his home. The possibility that his ears might be playing tricks on him was obliterated, however, when he heard his father's reply, instantly replacing that initial disbelief with seething anger instead.

"Tara, I don't want to act too rashly," Vikram was saying, "You know he's been having a difficult time of it lately. This is only a rough patch. When he's in a better mind frame to listen to reason then I'll talk to him."

At the point Danny decided to make his presence known, barging into his father's private office without so much as a polite knock. "If you think by 'talking' you're going to convince me to trust this deceitful bitch, you can think again, Dad!"

Both Vikram and Tara were clearly startled and unnerved by his sudden materialization but Tara managed to recover more quickly than her younger brother. "Daniel, I can see that our time apart has done little to improve your manners," she remarked dryly, "Good afternoon to you too, nephew."

"Shut the hell up and get out of my house!" he ordered shortly, completely without tolerance for her word games at the moment.

His father gasped his name in horror. "Despite however justified you might believe yourself to be, Tara is still your aunt," he reminded Danny in a brusque tone, "You _will_ respect her. If not because she _deserves_ that much then because _I_ deserve it!"

"Respect her?" Danny scoffed incredulously as if Vikram had just asked him to reach up and lasso the moon, "What part of 'she tried to have me killed' are you not grasping, Dad?"

"The part where you offer up no proof at all that your accusations are true," Vikram snapped in return, "The part where I know for certain you've been grasping for quite some time now for any reason whatsoever to have Tara leave this house!"

"And what?" Danny mocked, "Has it never occurred to you _why_ I might want her out of here so badly?"

Before Vikram could make a reply to that, Tara interjected with her own theory. "It's a very simple reason, Daniel," she said, "You don't like me because I make you face the truth about yourself. Your father coddles and spoils you. He excuses away your irresponsible behavior. I, on the other hand, won't tolerate it and never have."

Danny leveled her with an icy glower following that grossly inaccurate assumption. "You're insane," he uttered tersely, "My hatred for you has nothing to do with you setting boundaries for me or whatever the hell it is you're trying to claim right now. Instead, my hatred comes from the years of verbal and emotional abuses you've helped down on me and, most recently, your attempt to have me kidnapped and killed. That one I'm finding especially hard to get over, Tara."

He didn't expect Tara to truly acknowledge anything he'd said and she didn't disappoint him. She waved her hand with her usual dismissive air, her whiskey colored eyes cold and haughty as she regarded him. "Don't be ridiculous, Daniel!" she scoffed, "It's true that we've had our differences in the past but I would no more try to kill you than I would your father. Despite your numerous flaws, you _are_ my family."

"That's so very touching, Aunt Tara," Danny drawled in rolling sarcasm, "Really, I can feel the tears well up as we speak."

His unapologetic insincerity only succeeded in provoking his father's irritation with him anew. "Daniel, don't be an ass!" he snapped, "Frankly, I think Tara is being more than gracious given the unconscionable things you've accused her of lately."

"You would think so," Danny sneered, "After all, Tara is nothing less than an angel fallen from heaven in your eyes!"

"You're being absurd," Vikram scoffed, "Of course, I'm very well aware that Tara has flaws. She's not perfect and she makes mistakes but she has always, _always_ worked in this family's best interest!"

Danny's mouth twisted in an acrimonious smile. "Don't you mean that she's always worked in _your_ interest, Dad?"

"Isn't it all the same thing?"

"No," his son answered coldly, "Actually it isn't, not even remotely close."

Before Vikram could counter that statement, Tara nudged him in the side and stymied whatever words he had planned. "Stop wasting your time, Vikram," she hissed at him fiercely, "I've told you time and time again that the boy is well past reason! You know what you need to do, now you only need to find the courage to do it!"

Despite the cryptic manner of her words, it was blazingly obvious to Danny that Tara was attempting to widen the rift between his father and himself by pitting them against one another. He raked her with a contemptuous glare. "Don't talk about me as if I'm not in the room, Tara!"

"This is between me and your father," she informed him coolly.

"No. If there's anything my father and I need to work out we will do it without your interference," Danny said. He reached for the door and yanked it open further. "I want you to leave now. Get the hell out of my house!"

Tara lifted her chin in proud challenge. "I will leave when _Vikram_ asks me too."

Danny cut an expectant glance to his father and Vikram, in turn, threw up both his hands in wild dismay. "Don't do that! Don't put me in the middle! I have no desire to choose sides!"

"Choose sides?" Danny echoed with a disheartened grimace, "Dad, this isn't some family squabble we're having here!"

"You and Tara have always had your petty differences," Vikram grumbled, "It's way past time that you work them out instead of always insisting that I choose between you!"

Danny snapped to attention, blinking at his father as if Vikram had just spoken another language altogether. "Is that seriously what you think this is?" he whispered, "This shouldn't even be a choice for you in the first place! I am your son. This woman makes me feel threatened and uncomfortable. I don't feel safe with her in this house! Why can't that freaking be enough for you?"

Tara huffed out an impatient sigh. "Are you honestly questioning your father's love for you?" she cried contemptuously, "When you've wanted for nothing, when he's given you everything? You have to indecency to doubt his devotion to you? What a spoiled little brat you are!"

"Shut the fuck up!" Danny flared, momentarily stunning his father, aunt and even himself into silence. When he felt he was calmer, he directed a look over at his father that was half pleading, half demanding. "Make her leave, Dad. Tell her she needs to get out and never come back."

"This entire situation is ridiculous," Tara scoffed before Vikram could answer, "This house has been my home for all of my life, long before he was even conceived, let alone thought of! How you managed to talk me into leaving at all just to suit your emotionally imbalanced son is too ludicrous to contemplate! Vikram, exactly how long do you intend to stand for his behavior?"

"Yeah, Dad," Danny needled, feeling increasingly outnumbered as the confrontation continued, "Just how do you intend to deal with me and my 'emotional imbalance?'"

"I never said those words," Vikram replied in preface.

"But you didn't disagree when _she_ said them," Danny pointed out stiffly, "Is that what you think? Do you think I'm crazy?"

"I think you've suffered a great deal of trauma in a short period of time," Vikram phrased carefully, "And that's obviously beginning to weigh on you, Danny. Why else would you make such wild claims against Tara and-,"

"-Because they're true," Danny interrupted in an implacable tone, "Every, single word is true. My kidnapper was hired to take me, by a woman, and he was instructed to kill him, not hold me for ransom. I don't know many people who would want me dead besides Tara."

"Except she doesn't!" Vikram cried in exasperation, "She doesn't want you dead!"

"And why do you say that? Is that because it's what _Tara_ wants you to believe?" Danny challenged, "I don't understand how you can be so blind when it comes to her!"

"You're one to talk about 'blindness,'" Tara scoffed, "You have seeing what you want to see practically mastered to an art form, Daniel."

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?"

"It means that you see your own family as the enemy, as evil incarnate even," Tara said, "But the people closest to you, the ones whom you call your friends, _they_ are the ones who are betraying you!"

Vikram lurched around to face her with a warning look. "Tara, no! Don't do it!"

"He needs to know the truth, Vikram," she insisted firmly, "Maybe it will wake him up to reality a bit."

Danny huffed a mirthless laugh. "The truth according to Tara Desai. This should be amusing." He spread his arms open in invitation. "Go on. Take your best shot."

"Jo Masterson lied to you," Tara intoned rather triumphantly, "That sweet little boy for whom you've grieved so fiercely, he wasn't even your son. He belonged to the man you call your best friend."

It wasn't the first time Danny had heard the theory or even entertained the possibility that Jo might have been lying to him but to hear the allegation come from Tara, of all people, left him reeling a bit. "You don't know what you're talking about," he said weakly, "You shut your mouth about Jo and Archie."

"I heard them talking in the hospital," Tara confirmed, "The he and the Masterson girl were making a pact to hide the truth from you indefinitely. She admitted the truth to him, that the baby was really his, and then asked him to be with her during the delivery."

"No...it was a coincidence."

"It was planned. You've been their fool this entire time! Perhaps you should stop looking for enemies in your own household and open your eyes to the ones you really have, Daniel."

Danny recoiled from that pronouncement, not because he couldn't imagine that there was a modicum of truth to it but because it had come from Tara. That reason alone tainted the veracity of such a thing, brought its validity into question. "I don't believe you. You'd say anything to hurt me." He glanced over at his father. "Are you watching this? Do you see how she operates now? She takes pleasure in seeing me miserable! It's all a game to her!"

Vikram expelled a weary sigh. "Daniel, Tara has no reason to lie about something like this."

"Oh, _she_ doesn't have a reason to lie but _I_ can't possibly be telling the truth about her! What a joke!"

"After Tara came to me with what she had learned, I ran a DNA test," Vikram went on softly, "I needed to know for myself if it was true." He surveyed Danny with a pitying look. "I'm sorry to have to tell you this, son, but I'm afraid Tara isn't lying to you. The DNA didn't match. That baby was not yours."

Danny covered his mouth, feeling hot bile rise in his throat with the confirmation. He had to bite down against the urge to vomit right then, firmly determined not to lose the last bit of dignity he had left with Tara standing there as witness. Finally, when he had gained some measure of control, he raised accusing eyes to his father. "Why didn't you tell me that you knew?" he demanded in a painful wheeze, "Why did you let me run around here, turning myself inside out trying to make things easier for Jo...why did you let me give him my name if you knew the entire time he wasn't mine?"

All the warnings that Lacey had given him over the last ensuing weeks began to play through Danny's head in a sickening reel of self-recrimination and regret. She had been right all along, Jo and Archie were colluding against him, conspiring behind his back for God knew how long. Perhaps there was even some merit to Lacey's theory that Archie and Jo meant to exact revenge for the perceived wrongs perpetuated against them. Had they known the entire time who he was, Danny wondered. Had they ever truly been his friends at all? Danny didn't know what to think.

He leaned weakly into an adjacent wall, his knees threatening to buckle beneath him. Of course, he had always known it was a possibility but he had never truly believed it, not until right that second, and the pain that came with the acknowledgment was excruciating. He looked towards his father once more in disbelief and dismay.

"Why wouldn't you tell me?" he demanded hoarsely, "How could you just stand back and watch me make a fool out of myself, Dad?"

"I didn't want to disillusion you."

Danny laughed at the reply but the sound was something twisted and ugly and well beyond broken. "I've got news for you, Dad! I've been disillusioned my _entire_ life! It's the only thing I've ever known!"

"Don't talk like that," his father urged, "I don't want you doing something you might regret."

"I'm not going to kill myself if that's what you're worried about!" Danny snorted, "It's not my well-being you should be worried about! It should be Archie and Jo's!"

"I don't like hearing you say things like that, Daniel. Promise me you won't do anything foolish."

"It's way too late for such promises."

Vikram shook his head in uneasy denial. "You don't mean that."

"The hell I don't! This is the last time I'll let anyone make me their bitch. Speaking of..." He turned a scornful glance towards his aunt then, vibrantly aware of the satisfied smirk that ghosted her lips. "I trust you've enjoyed the show," he remarked derisively, "Now you can get the hell out of my house and don't you ever, _ever_ come back!"

Tara bristled at the edict. "Vikram!" she snapped angrily, "Are you going to allow him to speak to me so disrespectfully?"

The aforementioned sprang into immediate action at his sister's affronted protest. "Danny, you need to stop this right now," he admonished, "I won't tolerate this behavior. It's not fair to take your anger out on Tara. She did nothing wrong! You should be grateful that she was willing to tell you the truth!"

Danny clapped his hands in slow applause. "Oh bravo for St. Tara. Should we all fall on our faces now and praise her incomparable greatness?"

"You're being an ass," his father told him.

"No. I'm taking control of _my_ life for a change," Danny countered with startling calm, "I've spent more than enough time tolerating liars and betrayers in my presence. No more. Never again. I'm done." He looked to Tara once more. "You can either leave under your own power or I can throw your ass out. How do you want it?"

"Vikram! Tell him that he cannot make me leave," Tara intoned, " _Your_ name is on the mortgage. _You_ are the one who controls his finances! You don't have to bend to his childish whims! For God's sake, strap on a pair and be a parent!"

So embroiled were they in their petty bickering that neither Vikram nor Tara were prepared for the moment when Danny suddenly grabbed a crystal figurine from a nearby bookshelf and hurled it straight at Tara with all his might. It whizzed by her ear in a dizzying blur, missing her head by a few scant inches. In the stunned silence that followed, it shattered into hundreds of glittering, jagged pieces against the wall behind them. Still struggling to process what had happened, Vikram and Tara swiveled back around to stare at Danny in speechless horror. He regarded them with wild, gleaming eyes, made all the more feral in appearance by the dark, unruly locks of hair which fell around them.

He broke the silence with five, simple words. "Next time I won't miss."

Vikram shuddered to hear the menacing edge in Danny's tone, truly taken aback by the leashed violence that seemed to shimmer around his only son. "What the hell has gotten into you, Daniel? Have you lost your mind completely?"

"I want her gone!" he railed, becoming increasingly agitated with each passing second. He paced the space in front of the door in small, frenetic circles. "One way or another, I want her out of this house! I shouldn't have to put up with her!"

"Daniel, you're being irrational."

"I don't care!" he roared, "Make her leave right now, Dad, or I'll..."

"Or you'll do what, Daniel?" Tara challenged snidely, "What will you do to make me leave? Throw a tantrum?"

His demeanor was chillingly resolved when he said, "No. I'll kill you."

Tara felt a genuine thrill of fear shiver down her back with that pronouncement. She turned to Vikram, her wary eyes trained on Danny the entire time. "You see this?" she whispered furiously, "This is _exactly_ what I mean. He's clearly a danger to himself and to others."

She had barely finished the sentence before Danny was lunging at her with the precision of a striking cobra, so deadly and intent in his purpose that he would have most certainly succeeded in wrapping his hands around her throat if his father hadn't interceded. Vikram managed to place himself between Danny and Tara before physical contact could be made, an intervention that caused _him_ to receive his son's ire instead. Danny struggled and bucked in his hold, even drawing his fist back as if he meant to beat Vikram senseless to reach Tara. For the first time ever, Tara found herself terrified of the rage and hatred she saw emanating from her nephew's feral countenance. She cowered behind her brother as he covered her from Danny's blows, that moment triggering the memory of countless beating she had once suffered at her father's hands.

Desperate to regain control of the rapidly escalating scene, Vikram ducked yet another of Danny's untamed swings and managed to grasp hold of his shoulders tightly. He then shook Danny hard enough to snap his head back on his neck. "Get a hold of yourself!" Vikram demanded sternly, "Stop this right now and get some control! This is unacceptable and I won't allow you to terrorize her, damn it!"

The words seemed to finally bring Danny back to himself. Gradually, he relaxed in his father's hold as his sanity returned and, with it, the realization of the carnage he had unleashed. His father's lower lip was bloodied and swollen, his left eye also beginning to swell as well. But even the sight of his father's bruises didn't prepare him for the sight of his aunt, a woman who had never been anything but calm, collected and completely in control, practically contorted into a small ball directly behind his father.

She was hunkered down in a defensive posture, her arms wrapped over the top of her head as if she were protecting herself against coming blows. But it was the sound that she made that truly filled Danny with self-disgust and loathing. She whimpered pathetically, almost like a wounded animal that had been cornered. The moment was agonizing in its brutal clarity. Danny stumbled back a step. He had no idea what had come over him or what had compelled him to act in such a way but he knew absolutely that he didn't like it.

"She's not hurt, is she?" he asked his father as Vikram knelt down to tend to his traumatized sister, "I...I didn't hurt her, did I?" He cringed at the blood crusted on his father's lower lip. "I didn't mean to hurt you either."

Vikram spared him a brief but castigating glower. "Now you care? Isn't that exactly what you wanted?"

"I don't know," Danny muttered in a suffocated tone, backing up several more steps, "I don't know what just happened here."

Danny wasn't exaggerating his horror either. At that moment, he felt like he was living in the body of a complete stranger. As much as he hated Tara, as many times as he had wished her out of his life in the past, he had never thought to raise a hand against her. Even when _she_ had physically assaulted _him_ , Danny had always restrained himself because he remained vibrantly aware of just how severely he could harm her if he lost self-control. In nineteen years, he had never once lost it, even with Tara testing him again and again, until right then. The entire situation was bizarre to him, as if he was having an out of body experience. He expressed as much to his father.

"I...I honestly don't know what happened, Dad," he said again, "This isn't me."

"You need to cool off!" Vikram told him harshly, "Take a walk! Go for a drive! I don't care what you do but get your damned head on straight again! And don't come back here until you've gained some self-control over yourself, Daniel!"

If Danny had been a little more cognizant, he might have argued with Vikram over the irony that _he_ was the one leaving the house when it was _Tara_ who had no right to be there. Right then, however, Danny was as eager to leave as Vikram was to have him leave. "I'm sorry, Dad," he choked brokenly as he turned on his heel to flee, "I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't let him go," Tara said when the sound of the front door slamming echoed gloomily through the silent house, "Not after what he's done." She tenderly fingered the bleeding cut to Vikram's lower lip. "Today, he crossed a line, Vikram. He should be arrested for assault."

"I can't do that. He's my son."

"He hurt you, Vikram!" she whispered fiercely, "Don't you see? Everything I said about him is true. We didn't act quickly enough when it came to our father but we don't have to make that same mistake again."

Vikram glanced away from her, visibly torn between his love for his son and his loyalty to his sister. "No. He's nothing like our father, Tara. If we give him time-,"

"Stop being naive, Vikram! You never have the stomach to do what needs to be done! It has always been me!"

"This isn't like all of those other times."

"You _always_ say that and you're _always_ wrong!" she insisted darkly, "Think, Vikram! If you hadn't been here this afternoon, he would have killed me...and we both know it."

Refusing to acknowledge that possibility at all, Vikram shifted to his feet and then assisted Tara to hers as well. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," she said, "You're the one I'm worried about. You shouldn't be alone with him. For all you know, he's become involved in drugs again. That could be the reason he's been acting so erratic and paranoid lately."

"It's definitely something I've considered," Vikram admitted quietly.

"Then _do_ something about it," Tara urged, "before he makes casualties out of us both."

Vikram expelled sigh, too weary to give her warning too much contemplation right then. "Maybe it would be best if you avoided him for the foreseeable future," he considered, "At least until we can get this mess sorted out, you shouldn't come around the house, Tara."

She pouted at the suggestion, an altogether rare show of vulnerability on her part. "But when will I see you? When will we spend time together? It's not fair that he keeps us apart!"

"I'll come to you just as I always have." He pressed a lingering kiss to her lips, ignoring the stinging pain it caused him. "Please don't worry. I will find a way to make this work. You, Danny and I will find a way to be a family. I know it."

Tara watched him exit the study, not nearly as convinced of that prospect as he was. She was completely unaware that she and Vikram had had an audience for some time until Lepa emerged from the shadows. Tara jumped at her sudden appearance and then relaxed with an exasperated grunt. "Must you always lurk about like that?" she snapped, "It's unnerving!"

Lepa regarded her with a disapproving look. "You playing with fire, Ms. Tara," she warned direly, "Be careful you not get burned."

"Your concern for me is heartwarming, Lepa, but I can take care of myself."

"I not like what you have me do," the housekeeper continued in a furious whisper, "What you do with Mr. Vikram is a sin against God but what you do to Mr. Danny... That is pure evil. He a good boy. He not deserve it!"

"It's a little too late to grow a conscience about it now, Lepa," Tara scoffed, "I've paid you handsomely for your services and your discretion all of these years. There's no reason why that can't continue for our mutual benefit."

"I not want your money no more!" Lepa sneered, "You a bad woman and I not hurt Mr. Danny anymore for you!"

Tara laughed at what she imagined was the diminutive housekeeper's attempt to distance herself from the crimes she had committed in Tara's name. "What? Do you think you can just quit now? I don't think so. Your hands are much too dirty for that, Lepa."

"I go to the police," Lepa threatened, "I tell them all the bad things you make me do and you go to jail."

"I haven't forced you to do anything. I gave you a choice."

"You make me poison Mr. Danny!" Lepa cried, recoiling anew, "I no want to make him die!"

Tara rolled her eyes impatiently. "Oh good grief..."

"Please, Ms. Tara, please, please no make me no more..."

"I haven't made you do a damned thing, Lepa!" Tara snapped in a flash of temper, "You had a choice. You've always had a choice!"

"Because you threaten me! And you threaten my family! You make me afraid to live!"

"What threats? I've provided you with employment, a home, a safe environment for your family for many, many years."

"And you always say you can take it away," Lepa hissed.

Tara merely shrugged. "Merely a statement of fact."

"You threaten me," Lepa insisted again with renewed ferocity.

"Then bow out now," Tara invited her smoothly, "Yield to your conscience or whatever it is that compels you right now and live with the consequences that follow." When Lepa remained mutinously silent in response, Tara knew she had won. "That's what I thought you might do."

"You a very bad woman," Lepa told her again, "You have no heart."

"You're right," Tara agreed, "It was beaten out of me long ago." She reached into her pants pocket then to produce a small, glass vial filled with fine, white powder and held it out to Lepa. The wizened housekeeper plucked it from her fingers with great reluctance. "You know what to do with this," Tara instructed, "Make sure you sprinkle that in everything you serve him, everything he eats and drinks, Lepa. I mean _everything_."

Lepa stared down at the vial in her hand as if it were a coiled snake. "Why you giving Mr. Danny poison?" she wondered mournfully, "Why you want him to die?"

"Calm yourself," Tara scoffed, "Honestly! It's not 'poison' at all and it's not anything that Daniel hasn't put into his own body quite willingly on hundreds of occasions before. All you and I are really doing is satisfying a craving of his. We're scratching an itch. Hardly the crime of the century, I think."

"You want him to die," Lepa concluded, clearly doubting Tara's words.

"Not at all. I want him to _suffer_."


	31. Chapter Thirty

**Chapter Thirty**

When Jo opened her front door and found a disheveled Danny loitering on her porch she had the sudden premonition that things between them were about to change irrevocably. Shaking off the chilling portent as best she could, Jo stepped out onto the porch to join him, shutting the door firmly behind her so as to not alert her parents or her visiting guest to Danny's presence. Thankfully, he didn't question her reason for not inviting him inside.

She wasn't completely unhappy to see him, far from it in fact, but the tension between him and her parents had reached Def-Con levels since her hospitalization. Kyle and Tess Masterson arbitrarily blamed Danny for every heartache and misery Jo had suffered in the past few months, even going so far as to hold him responsible for the circumstances surrounding her accident. Their acrimony towards didn't make for enjoyable visits during the times Danny dropped by the house. She expected the same tension would crop up now were they to be made aware of his presence and that was the last thing Jo wanted. She was already dealing with enough stress.

Primarily, she was frustrated with herself because she still couldn't remember all the details surrounding her fall. The one thing Jo did know, however, was that she had been upset when it happened. She also knew that it wasn't a result of her fight with Archie but had failed to recall anything beyond that moment. There were fragmented pieces of memories that came to her, flashes of her with Danny, with Tara, with her own parents but nothing that made chronological sense.

Despite that, something continued to niggle at her and make her feel threatened and that concerned Jo because those were the precise emotions she felt when she awakened in pain and confusion in the hospital. For Jo's parents, it was easy for them to jump to the erroneous conclusion that Danny had somehow been the reason for her disquietude. From their viewpoint, while Jo had remained behind in Green Grove with the mistaken belief that Danny wanted to try again with her, he had been cavorting in New York with his ex-girlfriend. It was little wonder their fragile daughter had lost her bearings and now seemed afraid of her own shadow.

Because she herself didn't know all the particular details surrounding Danny and Lacey being together in New York, Jo hadn't bothered to argue with them or alter their assumptions. They didn't know the full story of her half-truths and manipulations and Jo wasn't eager to disillusion them about the sort of girl she was and had been. Truthfully, she needed their support more than she ever had in her entire life and she couldn't afford to have them turn away from her in disgust should they learn the things she had done. It was just as Archie had suggested. Perhaps it truly was better to let the past stay buried.

Besides that, it wasn't as if Jo would have had the emotional energy to hash it through with her parents should the truth come to light in the first place. Her sole focus lately had become day to day living. _Get up. Brush teeth. Shower. Eat a meal. Try not to cry._ Lather, rinse, repeat. Maybe it was selfish but all she really wanted to do was to put everything that had happened behind her and try to move on from it.

She was trying to find a reason for joy again and blaming Danny for problems that were mostly of her own making certainly wasn't going to help matters. That didn't mean that she didn't resent him on some level, because she firmly believed that he had done his own share of manipulating her. He had used her feelings for him so that she could serve as an emotional buffer against the hurt Lacey had caused him. She had been his crutch during a difficult time and nothing more. Jo was beginning to wonder if that was all she'd ever been to him. She wasn't so blind that she didn't recognize the part she had played in damaging the foundation of their friendship but Danny Desai had certainly been no angel.

Jo had to give him credit though. Since the baby's death, Danny had made a concerted effort to be a strong presence in her life. He made a focus of tending to her needs for a change rather than expressing his own. Still, despite his unreserved offers of emotional and financial support, Jo had mostly rebuffed his efforts to aid her. Her actions were motivated partly by the swamping guilt she felt whenever she was in his presence but also because she suspected his kindness and concern were mostly motivated by pity. She had endured enough of that to last a lifetime.

Essentially, he came around because he felt obligated to do so, because he believed he should after their supposed loss, she told herself implacably, not because he actually _cared_ about her. In fact, she wouldn't be surprised if some small part of him was secretly relieved that her son's death had severed the last and final hold she had on him. After all, the baby had been the biggest obstacle standing between him and his reconciliation with Lacey. Now he could move forward with her with a clear conscience. Jo didn't want the knowledge to make her feel bitter...but it did.

With those morose thoughts churning through her head, Jo regarded Danny with weary eyes and chafed her bare arms against the sudden autumn chill that rolled by. She motioned for him to step off the porch with her before she spoke. Once that was done, she greeted him in a mildly guarded tone, "Hey, Danny. I thought we agreed that you would call first for my folks' sake."

"This couldn't wait."

Her guarded mood shifted and manifested into a concerned frown at his words. "What couldn't wait? What's wrong?"

"I needed to see you," he said gruffly. Jo couldn't help but notice how he seemed to have difficulty meeting her eyes right then. "We have to talk, Jo."

"About what?" Jo asked warily.

Danny hesitated to answer her right away. The anger and disgust he felt for her right then was eating a hole in his chest, a wound that had festered figuratively for thousands of years. When he looked at her he didn't see the benevolent older sister who had shielded and guarded him in his youth, when calculating men would have ended his life to usurp the throne. He didn't see the girl who had provided him an escape from his loveless, lifeless household, who had made him laugh with lame jokes and shared stale popcorn with him while watching late night movies. Instead, he saw a woman who had betrayed him in _two_ lifetimes, a woman who lied as often as she breathed and he honestly hated her. In that instant, he hated her utterly for all the crimes she had committed present and past. But more than that, he hated himself for having ever trusted her in the first place.

With so much emotion rioting through him, Danny couldn't trust himself to maintain his control, not with the confrontation with Tara and his father still so fresh in his mind. His scraped knuckles throbbed with the memory of the punches he'd delivered. His heart thudded with the rage that had blinded him so thoroughly that he well could have strangled Tara to death in that moment and not blinked an eye.

He didn't want to display that type of violence towards Jo. In spite of everything she had done and everything she was, she was _still_ a person, a human being and she didn't deserve to be brutalized. Nevertheless, Danny wasn't completely certain he'd be able to maintain his poise and self-control with her, especially if, after everything that had happened already, she continued to lie to him. That was something that Danny would be unable to tolerate or excuse.

Unaware of the grim musings filling Danny's heart right then and mistaking the reason for his prolonged silence, Jo snapped a little impatiently, "If you came all the way out here to tell me about Lacey, I already know, Danny. I'm not an idiot despite what you might think! It became a little self-explanatory after you were both kidnapped. I doubt it was a coincidence that she was with you in New York. Did you plan to meet her there from the very beginning?"

Danny bit back an ironic laugh over her incorrect assumption. "No, I didn't. Not that any of that matters right now. That's not why I'm here, Jo."

"Then why?" she pressed.

Inexplicably, the question seemed to anger him. He dragged both of his hands down the length of his haggard face with a frustrated groan. "It pisses me off that _I'm_ the one who has to come to _you_ about this!" he huffed shortly, " _I_ have to be the one to address it! Why is that? Don't you have any conscience at all?"

The menacing edge in his tone was unsettling for Jo. She took a wary step backwards, becoming completely aware then of the severity of his rumpled appearance. His clothing was horribly wrinkled and arranged haphazardly, his jaw darkened with stubble. His hair, which was usually secured to the top of his head in an untidy topknot, now fell across his eyes in unruly waves giving him an almost wild appearance. He looked as if he hadn't slept in days and, from the distracted pacing he began to do across her front lawn Jo could believe that he hadn't.

She surveyed him with a confused frown. "I don't understand what you mean," she said when he continued to glare at her accusingly, "Are...are you mad at me about something?"

That time Danny couldn't quite quell his spurt of maniacal laughter. "You're kidding me right now!"

The sarcasm in his tone had Jo stiffening with righteous indignation. "Exactly why do you get to be mad at me?" she demanded, " _I'm_ not the one who led _you_ on! I'm not the one who lied and-,"

"-Oh, you don't lie?" Danny interrupted grandly, "That's a laugh!"

Her lips tightened in a grim smile. "I have always been honest with you about my feelings, Danny," she said, "I never made a secret of the fact that I wanted you and that I wanted there to be an 'us.' But, instead of being honest with me and telling me that you were still in love with Lacey, you gave me false hope! You kissed me and made me believe that-,"

"-this has _nothing_ to do with Lacey!" Danny yelled erratically before she could finish, "This is about _us_ , Jo!" She went still at the raw emotion in his voice. "I don't understand how you could do this," he uttered in anguished defeat, "Why would you? Do you _hate_ me that much?"

"I've never hated you, Danny."

Without warning, his mood shifted, his sorrow replaced with harsh suspicion. "Did you know the truth about who we were the whole time?" he bit out, "Did you and Archie cook this thing up from the beginning? How far were you going to take it?" His voice rose an octave with every subsequent question, the distance between them becoming less and less until they were practically nose to nose when he shouted, "Tell me, damn it!"

And that was how Archie found them, Danny towered over Jo in obvious fury while she cringed away from him. He wasted no time darting down the steps to pull Jo safely behind him, creating a shield against Danny with his own body. He and Danny squared off like two antagonistic combatants in a wrestling ring.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Archie demanded shortly, "Why are you out here yelling at her? I could hear you from the foyer!"

"Why don't I find it the least surprising that you're here?" Danny snorted. He bounced a scornful glance between Archie and Jo. "You both make me sick!"

At that particular moment, however, Jo couldn't concern herself with Danny's sudden, inexplicable anger because she was too horrified by the revelation their fight could be heard from inside the house. She glanced up at Archie. "Please tell me that my parents..."

"They don't know what's going on," he reassured her, "They're still in the den waiting for you. That's the only reason I heard all of the shouting. I was coming outside to see what was taking you so long."

Jo gestured over towards their irate former best friend. "Well, as you can see, Danny's here," she provided rather inanely, "And, he seems rather pissed off at me about something though I haven't quite figured out why."

"Of course you haven't," Danny concluded sardonically, "After all, you probably expected me to stay the clueless idiot for the rest of my life. And why wouldn't you? It's not the first time you and he have made a fool of me but it damned sure will be the last time! That's a guarantee!"

"What the hell are you talking about, Danny?" Archie burst out impatiently. He raked a harsh glance over Danny's person, noting in that moment how horrible he looked. "What's going on with you? Are you drunk right now? Are you high? Is that why you're acting like a crazy person?"

Danny smirked at him. "You'd like to think that I'm out of my mind, wouldn't you, Arch? But I've never seen things clearer before," he said, "It took me a while but, I finally see both you and Jo for the lying sacks of shit that you are and I hate you both!"

Far from being chastened by Danny's fervid rejection, Archie was exhausted by it instead, overwhelmed by years of enduring this same mercurial dance with his erstwhile best friend. "What's your deal, Desai?" he wondered aloud wearily, "Is this some kind of persecution complex? Do you get off on the thought that everybody is against poor, victimized little Danny? Just say your peace and then get out of here. After everything Jo has been through lately, this is the last thing she needs!"

"I know about the baby!" he shouted suddenly, stunning both Jo and Archie into complete silence. Satisfied with the knowledge that he had indeed captured their undivided attention, he said, "I know that he wasn't mine." He half expected her to deny it and, when she didn't, Danny didn't know if he was surprised or disappointed.

Jo groaned at the declaration, surprised by how unforgiving and cruel the words sounded aloud. She uttered his name in a mournful whimper but Danny was largely unmoved by her display of guilty shame. "How did you find out?" she asked finally, "Who told you?"

"Does it matter?" he countered coldly, "The point is that I know the truth now."

"It's not how you think-,"

He cut off her attempt at spin. "How long were you going to lie to me about it, Jo?" he wondered in a steely tone, "Were you ever going to tell the truth at all or was this your and Archie's way of sticking it to me, watching me raise his son as my own while you two laughed behind my back? Was the kid going to be in _college_ before you told me or was this going to be a lifelong thing? _Tell me!_ "

"That's not how it was," Jo denied weakly, "I never planned to lie to you about it, Danny, or to take it as far as I did! I swear to you. I don't know how it got so out of control!"

"You'll forgive me if I remain skeptical about that," he mocked.

Jo held out her hand in entreaty to him, hoping to soften his anger but dropped it when he continued to regard her with unconcealed contempt. "Danny, I know how all of this must look to you but, please let me explain..." she beseeched him weakly.

"It looks like you're a lying bitch!" he snapped disdainfully, "Explain _that_!"

Archie charged him like a stampeding bull, not stopping until he and Danny were standing toe to toe with their faces within inches of each other. But Danny didn't so much as flinch, not even when Archie bellowed, "Back off of her!"

Danny shoved him back. Hard. "No, you back off!" he retorted, "You two screw around behind my back for months and then try to pass off your love child as mine and _I'm_ supposed to be the one who's in the wrong? Screw that, Archie!"

"I told you already that's not how it happened," Jo cried defensively before the two could exchange blows, "Archie and I weren't trying to set you up or trick you or whatever it is you seem to believe! It was a bad situation that got out of hand!"

"A bad situation?" Danny scoffed, "You call lying to me for months and passing off someone else's kid as mine 'a bad situation?' Who are you? Did I ever even know you at all?"

"I didn't intentionally set out to hurt you, Danny."

Her denials mostly fell on deaf ears. Danny dismissed her words as if she hadn't spoken them at all. "So what were you after exactly? Was it money? Were you waiting for me to fall in love with the kid and then planning to extort me for money later? Was it power you wanted? Or a piece of my grandfather's company perhaps? We all know that Archie has always wanted what was mine!"

Archie scoffed at that. "Get over yourself, Danny! Jo never belonged to you!"

Far from refuting that, Danny glanced over at Jo once more, his anger suddenly tempered by hurt and confusion. "Why didn't you just tell me that you wanted to be with him, Jo?" he asked her softly, "Did you think I wouldn't approve? I wouldn't have stopped you. Hell, I would have given you my blessing if that's what you wanted!"

"Of course you would have given me your blessing," she cried in angry exasperation, "What would it have cost you to pass me off to your best friend like I was nothing? It's not like you and Archie haven't shared girls in the past, right?"

"That's not what I meant."

"Save it!" she huffed, "This is the entire reason we're in this place right now, Danny! We _slept_ together! I let you touch me and kiss me in places that no one else ever had! I gave you my freaking virginity for God's sake! You were the only one I ever wanted and you didn't even give a damn!"

Danny snapped to attention with sudden understanding, her motives crystal clear to him then. "So you decided to make me pay for it."

"It wasn't like that," she muttered, half in anger, half in hurt, "This wasn't some grand scheme against you, okay! I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of but it wasn't because I was out to get you!"

"Then tell me what you were doing, Jo!" he fired in frustration, "Help me understand how you could do this to me! To _us_!"

The last thing she wanted to do was continue their conversation out on her front lawn for all her neighbors to witness but Jo didn't see that she had much choice in the matter. Danny was so livid and so unreasonable that it was likely he'd reject any suggestion she made to postpone their confrontation until both of them had calmed down and could talk like rational adults. She didn't entirely blame him, of course. On the one hand, she understood his fury completely. He felt understandably betrayed and confused at having discovered her monstrous lie and from someone other than herself. On the other hand, however, she deeply resented him for choosing now, of all times, to confront her about it when he knew how emotionally raw she was.

"Listen to me, Danny," Jo began in a tone that defied the churning anxiety she was feeling right then, "After you rejected me that first time I was in a really crazy state of mind..."

"So it's _my_ fault?" Danny bit out, clearly offended.

Archie flicked him with a withering glance. "You wanted to know her side," he snapped, "So why don't you shut up and let her freaking tell it!"

Incensed but inwardly conceding Archie's point, Danny snapped his mouth shut and jerked a nod for Jo to continue. "I was a mess after everything that happened," she recounted thickly, "I had built up all of these expectations for us in my head and then when you told me that you couldn't feel that way about me, I guess I kind of lost it a little."

"I wasn't _trying_ to hurt you," Danny interjected grudgingly, unintentionally turning her earlier words to him back on her.

"But you _did_ hurt me," she told him, "You demolished my self-esteem and made me question my self-worth! Not even a month after it happened, you were already back to partying as if we had never happened, as if I meant nothing! You made me feel like I was nothing."

"And so I guess I deserved this...to be lied to and manipulated by my two best friends! Thanks for that."

"Archie didn't know okay!" Jo flared, "He wasn't conspiring behind your back or anything! He was just as much in the dark as you were."

"Not the whole time I'm sure."

"No. You're right. Eventually, I did tell him about the pregnancy. But," she rushed to add when Danny would have leapt on that, "He was my friend! He was there for me when I felt like my world was falling apart. He brought me ice cream and made me laugh and listened to me bitch about you. And he made me feel needed. He taught me what sex was _supposed_ to be and what it was _supposed_ to feel like! He was nothing but good to me and I lied to him too!"

Archie stool still, absorbing all that she had said about him with some measure of astonishment while Danny reacted with scorching bitterness instead. "Oh no, poor, deluded Archie," he mocked sarcastically, "So misused and abused. How tragic!"

"I think you're getting us confused, Danny," Archie retorted, "That's _your_ spiel. Remember?"

"The point is," Jo pressed on doggedly, "when he found out I was pregnant, he assumed that the baby was his right away and I sort of panicked because of it. He started talking about us being together for real and having a family and it felt like too much, too fast for me. So I told him that I didn't know for sure if the baby was his to get him to back off a little."

"But you did know," Danny concluded, "You always knew." Jo flinched guiltily, confirming the charge. "God, Jo!" he grunted in disgust, "Did you and I actually even fuc-,"

Before he could finish that crude reasoning, she snapped, "Just because you were too drunk to remember it that doesn't mean it didn't happen!"

"Again, you'll forgive my skepticism."

"Oh, go screw yourself, Danny!"

"What the hell?" Danny flung back, " _You're_ the one who lied so you don't get to turn this all around on me and make me the bad guy!"

"Well, maybe if your precious girlfriend hadn't been eavesdropping on conversations that had nothing to do with her none of this would have happened in the first place!" Jo tossed back unfairly, "But no. She had to go running to you with information that had nothing to do with her!"

Danny blinked at her incredulously. "So now you're blaming _Lacey_ too? Wow, Jo, you're some piece of work!"

She crossed her arms in challenge. "I never told you that the baby was yours. You assumed and I didn't correct you."

"No, you didn't. Instead, you stood by and watched me jeopardize my relationship with Lacey. You let me hurt the woman I loved over and over for a baby that wasn't even mine!"

"Don't blame me because Lacey didn't love you enough! I warned you about that!"

"Shut your mouth! You don't know the first thing about her!"

"I know enough," Jo muttered tightly, "And I'm glad. I'm glad you have her, Danny. I'm glad you're so crazy in love with her because she doesn't love you back. Not like that. And she _never_ will! You'll never be good enough in her eyes! So, now you'll know firsthand what that feels like to always be second rate to the person you love!"

Unwilling to admit that her embittered predictions tapped into his deepest held fears, Danny instead masked his insecurity behind cruelty and anger. "You give yourself way too much credit, Jo," he scoffed, "You weren't even second rate to me."

Her sobbing cry was drowned out by Archie's explosive as he drew back his fist to punch Danny squarely in the face. The blow took him by surprise, stunning him momentarily so that he teetered precariously on his feet for a split second. However, he was quick to regain his bearings and, once he had, Danny went charging at Archie full speed with a low growl of fury. The boys fell to the ground together in a dizzying flurry of flying fists and contorting limbs as they grappled with each other for the upper hand, largely impervious to Jo's horrified please for them to stop. As her neighbors began to converge on the sidewalk to gawk at the display, the quiet afternoon was shattered by the sounds of fierce grunting and the sickening crunch of bone on bone.

By the time Jo's parents had burst onto the scene, Danny had gained the upper hand and had Archie straddled beneath him while he rained down blow after punishing blow to Archie's face. Desperate, Jo screamed at her parents to call the cops, unaware that their neighbors had already done so soon after the fight began. While Tess tremulously placed the 911 call, Jo, her father and several of their more burly neighbors struggled to pull an almost feral Danny off of Archie. He fought and struggled with them the entire way, not seeming to get a hold of himself until Kyle gained enough control of him to fling him back onto the lawn. He hit the ground with a bone-rattling thump.

"What the hell has gotten into you?" Kyle flared in disgust, "Haven't you caused my daughter enough pain? Do you have to humiliate her as well?"

Danny wiped at the trickles of blood meandering from his swollen nose, quite certain that it was broken and yet strangely unconcerned by the knowledge. He tipped a wry, resentful glance up at the elder Masterson. "Your daughter," he spat caustically, "is a conniving bitch! I can't humiliate her enough!"

He was very likely spared from a severe and probably well deserved beating from Kyle Masterson by the arrival of police and EMS services on scene. While the medics turned their attention to a badly battered Archie, the police officers approached Kyle Masterson for answers. "What exactly happened here, sir?"

"Officers, this young man is trespassing on my property and just assaulted my daughter's friend while he was here," Kyle told them, "I want him arrested."

The interviewing officer turned to Danny for confirmation. "Is that true, son?"

Danny lifted his shoulders in an impenitent shrug. "More or less."

Clearly unimpressed by his attitude, the officer asked, "Do you have some i.d. on you?" While Danny dug around in his front pocket for his wallet, the officer studied him closely, noting the pinpoint focus of Danny's pupils as well as the glassy appearance of his eyes. "Have you been drinking tonight?" he asked after Danny had handed over his license.

"No, sir."

"Any illicit drug use?"

"No, sir."

"You sure about that?" After Danny, clearly aggravated that the officer was pressing the matter, inclined his head in a curt nod the policeman then turned his attention to Danny's license, reading aloud, "Daniel Aran Desai. Hmm...I know that name. I believe we might have another complaint against you in the system, son." He passed Danny's license back to him with a pointed look of rebuke. "Also for assault."

"Let me take a wild guess. That particular complaint was filed by one Tara Desai."

The officer smiled. "Now you know I can't give you that information, son." But, for Danny, his non-answer was answer enough.

After that, it seemed pretty clear to Danny that he was going to be taken into custody regardless of the fact he hadn't thrown the first punch. Resigned to his fate and rather calm since he'd been in that same position enough times before, Danny didn't resist as they read him his rights, cuffed his hands behind his back and informally charged him with disturbing the peace, trespassing and assault. He was frisked, his pockets searched and then, after all that was done, shoved rather roughly into the back of a squad car.

By the time it was all over, Danny felt strangely spent of his rage. In fact, he didn't feel much of anything. He was emotionally numb. His last view of the Masterson home as the squad car pulled away to take him to jail was of Jo, standing on the sidewalk with tears streaking her face, her messy blonde curls whipping in the gathering wind and the lingering shadow of Ankhesenamun billowing around her. He could easily read the stricken disbelief in her bright, blue eyes even from the distance that separated them. If he hadn't known better, he might have believed he detected remorse there as well.

Danny turned around in his seat then and didn't look back again.


	32. Chapter Thirty One

**Chapter Thirty One**

"I'm here for Desai," Lacey announced a little nervously as she approached the precinct's booking desk, "Danny Desai."

After she finished paying, the officer indicated that she take a seat while he went to get Danny. Lacey had to fight the urge to jostle her knee while she waited. She was understandably self-conscious. After all, it _was_ the first time in her entire life that she had ever had to post bail for someone. Even Chris, during his most rebellious streak and "wannabe a thug" tendencies, had never placed her in such an awkward position. Only Danny. He was exposing her to a whole series of firsts but they were definitely not the thrilling kind.

It had begun with a late evening phone call from Danny, informing her that he had been arrested. Then the nightmare had continued with her scrambling attempt to scrape together the funds to meet his bond amount as, for reasons unknown to her at the moment, Danny's father had frozen the money in his accounts. And now, several, harrowing hours later, it was ending with her sitting in the middle of a police precinct, waiting for him to be brought back from a police holding area. Lacey might have laughed at the surrealism of it all if she thought there was even the smallest chance she was dreaming it all up.

At the precise moment, however, Lacey mostly vacillated between being extremely angry and annoyed with Danny and being extremely worried about him. He hadn't offered up much to her regarding the reason for his arrest beyond revealing that he "was in a fight" which had "gotten out of hand" and ended with the cops being called. He made no mention of whether or not he had been the aggressor or if it had been a case of self-defense or anything else for that matter, leaving Lacey to mostly guess about what he had gotten himself into.

Unfortunately, given his churlish and erratic behavior of late, Lacey didn't have a difficult time imagining Danny provoking a fight. Ever since the funeral he had become increasingly mercurial, his moods often shifting dramatically from one minute to the next. When he was up, he was truly up, hot-tempered and reckless and spending money like it had no limit. But when he was down, his lows were equally dramatic, sometimes taking him to places so dark and inaccessible Lacey actually feared he might do something to harm himself. She was starting to wonder if he had some kind of chemical imbalance.

She wouldn't have been surprised to learn he did. Lacey had recently discovered that Danny's childhood experiences had been far more traumatizing than she could have ever imagined. During a particularly low mood, he had made a startling confession, confiding to her that his aunt had once climbed into bed with him when he was thirteen and touched him inappropriately. He had never shared that with another living soul, Danny had told her afterwards, not even Jo...although there had been a few times when he almost had.

Lacey hadn't known how to respond to the shocking confession. It was something that she had never expected. And, although Danny had been quick to reassure her that it had only happened once and that he was more or less over what happened, Lacey hadn't been able to shake it. Especially because, when she remembered the haunted expression in his eyes when he recounted the story, Lacey was well aware that Danny was indeed _not_ over it. What truly horrified her, however, was the fact that Danny seemed to blame himself for what happened, as if he had somehow invited Tara's inappropriate behavior. He had kept his feelings and fears bottled up about it for six years. Lacey agonized for him, mourned deeply for all the years that had passed by for him without someone he could confide in.

To know that Danny had been once molested by his aunt and then forced to endure her presence every day after that was appalling to her. And, given what she knew of Vikram Desai and his unusually close relationship with his sister, she highly doubted that he would have believed Danny about the incident even if Danny had been inclined to tell him. It was only then that Lacey began to truly understand that Danny battled demons far darker and more sinister than she could have ever imagined. But his biggest enemy wasn't his aunt, his complacent father or his untrustworthy friends. It was the corrosive self-hatred he had for himself. More often than not, Danny Desai was his own worst enemy.

She wondered now if, after the abduction, the baby's death and his strained relationship with Vikram over Tara, all of Danny's latent feelings about the abuse he had suffered at his aunt's hands was beginning to bubble to the surface. Lacey couldn't think of any other explanation for why he had suddenly become so volatile and paranoid lately. It was either that or...he had started using again. She shuddered at the thought. That was one possibility that Lacey could not bring herself to consider.

Lacey imagined that she could deal with many things but the idea that Danny may have relapsed seemed like too much. She had yet to forget the night he had been rushed to the hospital after his overdoes. It haunted her still. Back then, she had barely known him and the moment terrified. Now she was completely in love with him and her future felt inextricably linked with his. She didn't think she could live through something like that.

Honestly, she had considered asking him about it once or twice but hadn't had the courage to form the actual words. She feared what would happen if he said "yes." The thought of it frightened her incredibly, especially when the grim warnings she had received from both her mother and Archie Yates continued to buzz around in her head. She was still worrying herself about it when Danny was finally escorted out to her.

Upon seeing him, Lacey immediately recoiled. She wasn't at all prepared for his appearance. She knew he had been in a fight but she hadn't thought he would look _that_ bad. His eyes were ringed with dark bruises and slightly swollen. By the morning, she imagined they would be completely closed. His nose was swollen as well and slightly crooked, his nostrils packed with what looked like coils of Styrofoam. He was able to walk under his own power but it was clear from his careful gait that every step caused him pain.

"What the hell happened to you?" she hissed out when he reached her side, "You look like shit!"

"Can we just get out of here?" he mumbled, "I'll tell you everything in the car."

Though the last thing she wanted to do was wait for an explanation, not when he looked like hell, Lacey managed to keep her lips compressed in a thin line in compliance until they finally reached her car. They weren't even completely inside before she asked tightly, "Do I need to take you to the hospital? Did they even get you any medical attention before they threw you into a cell? You could have a freaking concussion or a brain bleed for all they know!"

Danny situated himself in the passenger's seat of her car and snapped on his seatbelt. "Calm down," he told her, "They took me to the hospital to get checked out right after they arrested me. It looks worse than it is. My nose is broken. That's all."

"What happened?" Lacey flared once again, "The last time we spoke you said you were going home to write a paper! How did you end up in a fight?"

"I _did_ go home but things just kind of spun out of control from there," Danny sighed wearily in explanation as she began pulling from her parking space. But, when she started to turn her car in the direction of his home, he asked, "Can you swing me by the Mastersons house first? I need to pick up my car. Hopefully Kyle Masterson didn't have it towed. That's the last thing I need."

"Why is your car over at Jo's?" Lacey asked him warily.

"Because...that's where I got arrested." He prepared himself for her coming tirade, cringed in expectation of it but was surprised when Lacey said nothing at all. However, one glance at her across the interior of the car confirmed his suspicions that she was simmering with anger. "Aren't you going to ask me what I was doing over there?"

"At this point, I don't think I really want to know, Danny."

"It's not what you're thinking. I went over there to confront her."

Lacey's rigid grip on the steering wheel loosened, but only slightly. "Confront her?" she echoed, "About what?"

"About the baby," Danny said, "You were right about her. It wasn't mine."

Stunned by the admission, it took all of Lacey's concentration not to swerve on the road. She shook her head slightly as she was unable to completely process what Danny had just told her. "Wait...wait...wait a second...so Jo just confessed all of that to you out of the blue?"

"No. Tara told me."

Just when she thought she was starting to get a grasp on things, he revealed more and Lacey's confusion understandably deepened. "Wait? What? What do you mean Tara told you? What does she have to do with this?"

Danny sighed. "Maybe I should start from the beginning," he said, "You might want to pull over for this."

Once Lacey had done as he'd advised, pulling off into the near empty parking lot of a local mini mart, Danny unburdened himself of everything, starting with his return home and finding Tara there and ending with the fight he had with Archie on the Mastersons' front lawn and his subsequent arrest. When he was finally finished talking Lacey was left feeling dazed and even a little speechless. She didn't know whether to hug him or berate him right then.

The confrontation with his father and aunt had been brewing for a long time and Lacey wasn't at all shocked to hear that it had escalated to violence. She suspected that quite a lot of resentment simmered beneath Danny's laidback exterior for his father. It was almost a relief to learn that it had finally manifested itself in some way. However, the news that he had beaten Archie severely enough to put him in the hospital gave Lacey chills. His behavior indicated a calculated wildness in him that she hadn't anticipated. She felt much the way she had standing in Tutankhamun's throne room that day, watching in mute shock as he murdered his best friend in cold blood.

But this wasn't ancient Egypt. Danny was unlikely to be rewarded with a crown and a kingdom for nearly beating a man to death. There would be consequences for his actions tonight, possibly very severe ones.

"How much trouble are you in right now?" she asked softly once she had found her voice again, "Tell me the truth. How bad is this?"

"Bad enough," he said, "I might do actual jail time for once."

Lacey closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat with a low groan of consternation. "Oh, Danny, why..."

She heard him shift in his seat and knew that he was looking straight at her when he said, "Lacey, if this is too much for you, I'll understand if you want to call it quits. I know you didn't sign up for this."

Her eyes flashed open with the suggestion. "What?"

"This wasn't how I was expecting the evening to go," he said, "When I left you this morning, I thought I would go home, write my paper and then spend the rest of my night with you, not find myself down in central booking. I hate that you had to see me this way. I'm sorry that you had to bail me out of jail."

"Did you think I wouldn't?" she whispered.

"I wouldn't have blamed you if you'd hung up the phone when I called," he told her, "I half expected that you would."

"Why would you think that?"

Danny shrugged, the casual gesture belying the emotion brimming in his eyes. "This can't be what you imagined when you agreed to be with me," he reasoned softly, "Think about it. I have no friends. No family who even gives a damn about me. No one, besides you, would have cared if I had rotted in jail tonight and every night after. Maybe the problem isn't them. Maybe it's _me_."

"Don't do that," Lacey admonished him, "You didn't ask your best friends to lie to you anymore than you invited what happened with Tara. None of that was your fault, Danny."

He turned away from her then, obviously uncomfortable with the direction their conversation had taken. Danny turned a glance out the window, watching with disinterest as the occasional, random shopper bustled to their car. "Can we not talk about that?" he muttered, "I wish I had never brought it up to you in the first place."

"But why?"

"Because you've been looking at me like a wounded puppy ever since. It happened and now it's over. Can't we just drop it?"

"How am I supposed to do that, Danny, when it obviously still bothers you so much?"

"It doesn't."

"I don't believe you." He grunted in response to that but still didn't turn around to look at her. "What Tara did to you was wrong. Who cares if she never did it again? She never should have done it in the first place! At the very least, you need to address it. If not with her then with your father!"

He pinned her with a sharpened glare then, his eyes glittering. "No! I'm not going to do that. Maybe it was just like she said! Maybe she was half asleep and it was a mistake!"

"Is that what _you_ believe?" Lacey challenged quietly.

Without warning, his angry bluster deflated from his body, leaving him hunched forward in misery. "I don't know what I believe," he muttered, "All I know is that was the one and only time Tara has ever touched me with anything resembling tenderness. The _only_ time, Lacey. How pathetic is it that that is all I have of her?"

Lacey squinted at him speculatively in the dim interior of the car. "Do you wish you had more? Do...do you love her, Danny?"

Danny shook his head with a short, humorless laugh. "Hell no! I got over that a long time ago. How can you love someone who makes themselves thoroughly so unlovable?"

"But you want her approval, don't you?" Lacey surmised with some measure of astonishment, "You might not love her but that doesn't stop you from wishing that _she_ loved _you_."

"I never had a mom," he said, "Not that I could really remember. My dad sometimes told me a handful of stories and I saw a few pictures of her but it wasn't the same. Tara's the closest thing I've ever had to a mother. Is it really so crazy that I would want her to love me?"

Lacey reached over to stroke his cheek in a commiserative caress. "There's nothing wrong with that," she whispered, "But if you're thinking allowing Tara to use you that night or any other time would have made her love you then you're wrong, Danny. You would have just ended up hating yourself more than you already do."

"Maybe that's true," he conceded a little despondently, "But at least she wouldn't be trying to kill me."

She snapped to attention with a dismayed gasp. "Please tell me you're not being serious."

As if belatedly realizing that he had stepped a little too far into the darkness that was threatening to consume him, Danny quickly backpedaled, more for Lacey's sake than his own. "You're right. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. My head is in a crazy place these days." Lacey didn't contest that statement but even went so far as to suggest that he talk to someone about his problems. Danny grimaced at the thought. "What do you mean? Like a shrink?"

"I don't think it would hurt."

"No way!" he replied in immediate rejection of the idea, "I don't want to bare my soul to a complete stranger, Lacey. That would be too weird. Besides I already have someone to talk to. I'm talking to _you_."

"But that's not good enough. I think you need...you know...like a professional."

Danny reared back, obviously offended by the idea. "So what are you saying? You think I'm crazy or something?"

"No, of course not!"

"Go on and say it! You think I'm crazy, right!"

She could tell that he was starting to bristle and lose focus like he had so many times in the recent weeks. Lacey deliberately kept her tone as neutral as she could in order to avoid escalating his volatile mood further. "I'm not saying that you're crazy," she told him slowly, "I'm saying that you might benefit from talking out your feelings with someone who is properly equipped to help you deal with them."

"And you think this based on what?"

"Based on what happened tonight."

Danny bit out a furious curse under his breath. "That is not fair, Lacey! It's not like I attacked Tara without provocation. I asked her again and again to leave the house and she wouldn't do it! She was deliberately needling me and egging my dad on the whole time! It was like she _wanted_ me to come after her!"

"And Archie?"

"He threw the first punch, not me! I was just finishing what he started!"

"And you don't see anything wrong with how you've been behaving lately?" Lacey pressed him, "How you're always flying off the handle without warning? How violent you've been?"

"I'm under stress," he argued weakly, "I'm under a lot of stress."

But, there was a part of him that couldn't deny Lacey's assessment. He had been feeling it himself lately as well, the constant awareness that he was out of control. At times, it was as if he was standing outside of his own body, watching events unfold while being powerless to direct them or stop them when they took a bad turn. He swung constantly between feelings of absolute euphoria and invincibility and moments when he wanted nothing more than to die. And that was not even the worst of it. His craving for drugs, particularly prescription painkillers, heroin and even cocaine, things he hadn't done in months, had suddenly raged anew in the last few weeks. He had managed to resist the lure of giving into the call for a fix but he didn't know how much longer his willpower would hold out, especially when everything in his life was spiraling out of control.

He didn't dare tell Lacey any of those things, however. She was already looking at him like he was only a step away from looney town. If he admitted to her that he wanted to get high on top of all of that, then she would likely never let the shrink thing go. She'd be harping on him constantly along with everyone else and Danny wasn't sure he could handle that at the moment. She was the one good, bright spot in his life at the moment and, despite the constant arguments they had been having lately, Danny didn't want to taint what they shared with his issues.

"Listen," he sighed after a few moments, "I'm sure everything will get better once things calm down for me at home. I've just been hit by one thing after another lately and it's starting to overwhelm me a little."

"That's exactly the reason I thought it might help you to talk to someone."

"God, Lacey!" he snapped, "I'm not talking to a freaking shrink!"

"Why? Why are you being so defensive about it?"

"Because you're trying to turn me into some kind of head case and it's pissing me off, alright!" he flared, "I can work through all the other crap but not if you start giving me crap too!"

"There's no shame in therapy, Danny."

"Then _you_ get some and leave me the hell out of it!" Danny regretted the outburst almost the second he made it and softly apologized soon after but the damage had already been done.

Lacey sat with a stiffened back, her hands fisted in her lap as she obviously fought back tears, clearly having reached her breaking point with him. It was a long time before she could bring herself to speak again and, when she did, her voice was coarse and trembling with unshed tears. "Fine. If you're not going through some kind of emotional breakdown right now then you tell me what's going on with you," she uttered tautly, "Because I can't take this anymore, Danny."

"I told you already. It's just stress and that's all."

She looked at him then, her skepticism with that statement evident. "I think it's more than that. You've never been like this before. Especially with me," she told him, "You've been moody and snappy for weeks now and it's getting old."

"Well, I'm sorry I can't be more upbeat for you with all of the kidnapping, death and police arrests going on, Lace," Danny replied sarcastically, "I'll work on that."

It was that last rejoinder that snapped what remained of Lacey's fragile grip on her temper. "Don't you dare talk to me like I haven't been right by your side every step of the way!" she flared, "I've lived through every tirade, every mood swing and temper tantrum you've thrown for nearly a month and now I'm done, Danny. I refuse to be your verbal punching bag anymore! So either you can get it together or...or..."

"Or what?" he demanded, "Are you saying that if I don't have some kind of therapy that you're done with me? Is that what this is now?"

The silence that followed his question was deafening and made all the more tense by Lacey's lack of immediate answer. Finally, she said, "I'm not trying to force you to do something you don't want to do, but..." She closed her eyes briefly before she finished, "I need to know what's going on with you."

"I already told you that-,

"Are you doing drugs again?" she blurted out before he'd completed his rote explanation. She managed to meet his shocked stare with a penetrating look. "Tell me the truth."

Danny blinked at her in disbelief. "Are you seriously asking me this?"

"It's the only other thing that makes sense to me," Lacey replied numbly, "You've been a mess lately, Danny. You're moody. You're jumpy. You can't sleep at night. You're paranoid as hell! You fidget all the time, like your mind is going a 100 mph and you can't keep up. And that doesn't even touch all the weight you're losing. You're not even the same person anymore. What else am I supposed to think?"

"That maybe I'm stressed out," he bit back in rising affront, "Because you know, everything you just mentioned happens when people are stressed, Lacey. It doesn't automatically mean they're on drugs!"

"I have to consider your history."

He reacted to that response with relative calm, surprising her when he sat back in his seat and re-buckled his seatbelt. She had expected him to explode but instead he simply shut down. "You know what...I need you to take me back to my car now."

Lacey sputtered in protest. "Danny, but you haven't-,"

Danny cut her off mid-sentence, the muscle in his jaw twitching spasmodically. "I'm serious, Lacey."

"Aren't you even going to answer me?" she cried in frustration.

He swept her with an irate glance. "What's the point? You've already tried and convicted me in your head already. Even if I told you that I was clean, it's not like you'd believe me anyway. So forget it."

"Danny, please..."

"Just take me to my car," he insisted coldly, "After that, you can do whatever the hell you want."

Left with little choice in the matter because it was obvious that he was going to give her the silent treatment regardless of any effort she made to restart their conversation, Lacey reluctantly cranked the ignition and dutifully drove him to the Masterson home to collect his own. On the way there, she wracked her brain for possible ways to diffuse the situation or, at least, get him to consider things from her viewpoint. She half hoped the Mastersons had gotten his car towed because then he would have no choice but to stay and talk to her.

Her heart sank when they turned the corner for Jo's street, however, and she spotted Danny's gleaming BMW convertible parked exactly where he had left it earlier. Reluctantly, she pulled up behind it and cut the engine to her car, hoping against hope that Danny had cooled off enough to talk reasonably with her. She was disappointed when he unbuckled his seatbelt and reached for the door handle with every intention of taking off without another word.

"Danny, don't leave it like this," she pleaded when he started to climb out, "I wasn't accusing you of anything before, I..." She paused to swallow back the lump of tears that rose in her throat. "I just want to know what's going on with you."

He didn't so much as turn back to look at her when he said, "No, you don't. You _want_ something to be wrong with me. You _want_ me to be broken. But that's your problem, Lacey, not mine."

Rather than respond with denials that she knew would inevitably provoke another fight, Lacey tried to reason with him instead. "At least let me drive you home," she offered, "It's not safe for you to be behind the wheel right now. You shouldn't be driving when you're so upset. Your eyes are swollen. You can barely see."

"I'll be fine," he grunted a few moments before slamming her door shut, "Contrary to what you might believe, Lacey, I can take care of myself. I've been doing it all my life."

Danny walked away then, feeling her eyes burn into his back with every step he took. But he refused to look back. He opened his car door and ducked inside, cranking the car to life and stamping the gas pedal without so much a parting glance. Only when her headlights had disappeared from his rearview mirror did Danny slow his speed and, once he had, the enormity of what had just happened began to settle on him heavily.

He was pretty sure he and Lacey had just broken up. The realization left him a little dazed but also strangely numb, as if he were watching it all happen to someone else. It was happening, he knew, but it didn't feel like it was happening to _him_. The full weight of it hadn't hit him yet. At that precise moment Danny was more concerned with figuring out what his next move would be. He didn't know where to go or what to do next. All he knew for sure was that he couldn't go home and that Lacey was no longer an option for him. For the first time in his life, Danny recognized that he was truly on his own now. He had no one.

But out of all the friendships he had lost over the last seven months losing Lacey proved to be the bitterest pill of all. He was torn between his continuing love for her and his inescapable feelings of betrayal too. He didn't know how to feel about her allegations at all. There was the part of him that felt literally gutted by her doubt, thoroughly unworthy and unwanted. Jo's words echoed through his head again and again: _You'll never be good enough in her eyes! Now you'll know firsthand what that feels like, to always be second rate._ The charge had been harsh and filled with hatred and yet, nonetheless, absolutely true. It galled him that Jo should be right about that.

And then there was the part of him that was unspeakably angry with Lacey and that was the part that was hardest for Danny to reconcile because he never imagined that he could ever feel that way about her. He never imagined that she would become like all the others or that he would even grow to resent her. He would have expected low expectations from his father and aunt and even from Jo and Archie because they had always anticipated the worst from him. Then again, they had always had reason to do so. He had been an exasperating mess in his past and he knew it. But not with Lacey, _never_ with Lacey. He had always tried his hardest to be a better person with her. He had never wanted to go back to the drunk, drugged out loser he had before loving her and he thought that she knew that.

Her lack of faith in him frustrated Danny for two reasons then. First, he had been virtually killing himself to be a better man for her, to _prove_ to her that he wasn't a shaky bet. He'd wanted her to know that she could rely on more than the memory of the man he had been. She could trust the man he was _now_. But it was clear to him now that Lacey did not trust that man and likely never would. His efforts, while sincere, had been nothing more than a colossal waste of time. Which brought him around to the second reason he was so pissed off at her…for all of her hand wringing, he had never, in the entire time they had been together, given her reason to doubt him.

Now he could freely admit that he had been more than a little moody in the past few weeks and perhaps he had taken it out on her more than he should have but, did her most logical conclusion have to be that he had fallen back into drugs? Did she really think that he would jeopardize what they shared so easily? Danny suspected that the only reason Lacey had been able to arrive at such a conclusion so swiftly was because she must have been harboring those doubts all along. She had gotten back together with him _expecting_ him to fail her. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.

He suddenly began to wonder what was the point of it all. If everyone believed that he would and could turn back to drugs so easily he couldn't fathom why he shouldn't live down to their expectations. They were waiting in anticipation for the moment when he would implode, then he would be sure to give them a show they wouldn't soon forget.

With his mind set on that self-destructive path, Danny groped around in the front seat for his phone and dialed a number he had taken off his contact list months before. "Ye ah, it's me," he said once the call went through, "Can we meet up tonight? The usual spot." After it was done, Danny felt like there was no turning back.

Fifteen minutes later, Danny found himself loitering in the park directly across the street from the local movie theater, waiting for his former dealer to show up. Feeling fidgety and nervous and even a little guilty, he paced in and out of the glow of the street lamp, vacillating wildly between the choice to stay or go. There was the niggling voice inside of him that urged him to forget the whole thing. That elusive high, as sweet as it could be, was only fleeting at best and had never made anything better once it had passed. More often than not, chasing it only made things worse.

He knew by staying he would be making a conscious decision to flush all of his hard-earned progress down the toilet but he couldn't imagine right then what he had left to lose. His body literally ached for that high, needed it to cope with what had become intolerable circumstances. He wanted desperately to ease that pain. He wanted desperately not to hurt anymore, even if it was only for a little while.

Danny was so agitated and preoccupied with making justifications to himself that he didn't even hear Clara calling out to him from across the street until he turned and found her standing directly in his path. He stopped short, his eyes darting guiltily when he saw her as he hoped his dealer wouldn't choose that moment to show up and, thereby, give away Danny intentions. If Clara found out what he was up to then it was inevitable that Lacey would soon follow and Danny couldn't have that. He tried not to think too hard on why Lacey's opinion of him still seemed to matter so much, especially when just one hour prior he had made up his mind that he was done with her.

"Hey, Clara!" he said in what he hoped was a relaxed tone of voice, "What...what are you doing here right now?"

Fortunately for him, Clara was much too distraught over how he looked to give much thought to why he was there right then. She didn't immediately answer his question because the teasing quip she had planned was lost when she caught full view of his bruised and battered face. She grimaced. "What the fu... You look... God, Danny, whose fist did you stop with your face?"

"Hah, hah. You're a funny girl, Clara," he replied humorlessly, "What are you doing here? Isn't it a little late for you?"

She shrugged and rolled her eyes at the implied condescension regarding her age that she sensed in his tone. "I'm supposed to be seeing a movie with some friends," she said, pointing to the two giggling girls across the street who were currently waving at them rather stupidly, "We were waiting in line and I looked up and saw you standing over here." She peered up at him with a quizzical frown. "Why are you hanging out in the park like some homeless guy? But, more importantly, what the hell happened to your face? You look rough."

"I got in a fight."

"Did you lose?" she retorted, "Because you really look like hell."

Danny winced a little at her straightforwardness. "You don't mince words, do you?"

"You may not appreciate it right now but when I'm your sister-in-law you'll thank me for my candor," she predicted wryly, "Speaking of, is my sister aware of this latest adventure of yours?"

"Yeah..." Danny hedged uneasily, "...she's has some idea."

"So why are you out here instead of trying to weasel back into her good graces? I know she must be pissed."

All traces of humor vanished from Danny's features then, his expression becoming shuttered. "I seriously doubt Lacey cares about me being in her 'good graces' anymore or anything else of hers for that matter."

Clara emitted a longsuffering groan. "What did you do this time, Desai?"

"Why does it have to be me?" he snapped a little defensively, "How do you know it wasn't Lacey who screwed up this time?"

"Because you're the one standing in this park right now," Clara replied quietly, " _And_ , from what my friends told me, this is the place where druggies hang out to score. So either this is a huge coincidence or..." As she allowed that statement to hang, Danny quickly averted his face at the observation but not before Clara saw the guilt flicker across his face. "So, I guess Lacey was right to be suspicious," she concluded a little sadly, "You _are_ doing drugs again."

"She talked to you about it too?" Danny surmised, torn between anger and shame, "Great. She should just have a freaking sign made!"

Clara wasn't at all put off by his crabby tone. In fact, she largely ignored it. "She's been worried about you," she said, "Just so you know, Lacey has been making herself crazy trying to figure out how to be there for you. She hasn't known what to think. But obviously her instincts were right on the money because look where you are."

"Well, her instincts are crap because I haven't okay!" Danny retorted, "Not the whole time we've been together, not that _she_ ever gave me the benefit of the doubt about that! I've been clean this entire time. Tonight is the first time I've tried to score in months."

Clara surveyed him with a penetrating look, as if trying to decide whether or not she should believe him. "Are you for real? If that's your idea of a denial, it was weak as hell."

To his surprise, Danny found himself pleading his case to Clara, saying to her the words he had stubbornly refused to say to Lacey. "I don't know what else I can say to make you believe me. I'm not lying," he insisted softly, "I've been clean this whole time. I'm not saying that the cravings haven't been there. Those have been really awful lately but I haven't given into them...at least, not until tonight."

Despite his unreserved earnestness Clara's skepticism remained. "If that's true, then why are you out here right now?"

"Lacey and I broke up tonight. I'm pretty sure it was for good this time."

It took Clara a few moments to absorb that news and, once she had, she shook her head and expelled a disgusted sigh. "Oh God, Danny. Can you be a bigger idiot?" she muttered in exasperation.

"You don't get it! She accused me of being on drugs again!" he fired out righteously, "She doesn't trust me at all! How do you think that made me feel, especially after everything we've gone through to be together!"

"So your way of proving her wrong was to go out and score drugs, thereby proving her worst fears true?" Clara retorted, "What the hell kind of backwards logic is that?"

"Maybe I just got tired of being the better person when it's obvious that no one in my life believes that I can be anyway, not even the woman who claims to love me."

"Danny, don't take this the wrong way but...that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

He huffed an exhausted sigh, his mood caught somewhere between aggravation and defeat. "I don't expect you to understand what I'm going through, Clara. You're just a kid."

"Oh yeah, you and Lacey are definitely made for each other," she snorted, "That's the same thing _she_ tells me when I call her out for being an idiot.

"Listen to me, Danny," she pressed on before he could begin to disagree, "I get where you're coming from. Lacey 'thy name is perfection' Porter is my older sister. I, on the other hand, am the _other_ daughter. The screw-up, the disappointment, the trouble-maker. I've never been as good or as smart or as pretty as Lacey, not as far as my family is concerned and for a while that really hurt me. Lacey and I were at odds for a long time because I resented her for being all the things they wanted and loved that I couldn't be.

"But eventually I realized that I needed to get over it. If my family couldn't accept me as I was then it was _their_ loss. I couldn't let other people's expectations define who I wanted to be. And when I finally let go of all that bitterness and resentment about it, Lacey and I were able to become friends. I actually learned to like myself and you know what? I'm pretty damned awesome. So, I'm going to live my life on my own terms and screw what anybody else thinks about it. The point is, you can't live your life trying to make other people happy, Danny, not even if that person is Lacey." She stabbed her index finger lightly in the center of his chest. "You gotta make _you_ happy."

Clara knew she had gotten through to him when he dropped his eyes. She could practically hear his thoughts, as if he were speaking them aloud. "You see? We're more alike than you think," she murmured.

"Maybe," Danny acknowledged grudgingly, "But it's not as simple as you make it sound."

"Yes, it is," she insisted with a sage wisdom that was far beyond her fifteen years, "If you want to kick back tonight and get stupid wasted with every known drug on the planet, then do it but not because you're trying to prove a point. Do it because that's what you _want_ to do. And if you want to stay clean, then do that but do it for you and nobody else." Detecting the sound of approaching footsteps, Clara correctly surmised that Danny's dealer had finally arrived to meet him. She looked up at Danny expectantly. "So what's it going to be, Desai?"

He was quiet for a long moment before he finally said with quiet conviction, "I guess I want to get out of here."

Rather than rejoining her friends for the movies after that, Clara waved them off while Danny explained to his dealer that he wouldn't be needing his services after all. The exchange clearly didn't end pleasantly but when it was over Danny appeared no less resolved than when he had begun. When he turned around after his dealer had walked away, Danny was surprised to discover that Clara had waited for him. He approached her with his hands shoved deep in his pockets.

"What are you still doing here?" he asked, "Where are your friends? I thought you'd be long gone by now."

Clara shrugged nonchalantly. "I figured I'd hang out with you instead."

Danny shook his head in refusal, his expression remote. "Don't do that. I don't need a babysitter, Clara," he told her, "Besides, I'll be terrible company. I don't even know where I'm going after I leave here."

"Sure you do," she told him, "You're coming home with me so you can fix things with my sister."

"No, that's a really bad idea. I don't think-,"

"Hand over your keys," she insisted, "I should probably do the driving tonight, Sir Puffy Eyes. I don't even know how you made it out here in one piece. Haven't you ever read those roadside signs before? Arrive alive, Danny."

Surprisingly, Danny found himself choking back a laugh, something he had imagined would be impossible after the hellish day he had endured. But Clara Porter had a unique and inexplicable way of disarming a person to the point where they could actually laugh at themselves no matter how grim the circumstances. For that reason Danny actually found himself digging down into his pocket for his car keys.

"Why do I feel like I'm going to regret this?" he groaned.

"Come on," she cajoled, wiggling her fingers, "You know you want to. Look at this face. How can you not trust this face?"

Danny handed over his keys, mostly because he realized how fortuitous Clara's timing had been tonight. She had prevented him from making a catastrophic error in judgment tonight. In a way, a fifteen year old Clara Porter had saved his life. She had opened his eyes. She had been the friend he had so urgently needed. The least he could do was trust her with his car after all of that.

"Do you even have a license?" he asked as they walked over to his car.

"I have a permit," she replied as if that was more than good enough. She flashed him a toothy grin as she clicked the key file to unlock the car doors. "Don't worry, future brother-in-law, I got you. I'm a very responsible driver."

"I really doubt that. I'm starting to get the impression that you might be insane," Danny mumbled wryly as he slid into the passenger's seat, "but I'm glad Lacey has you. I'm glad I do too. Thanks for what you did for me tonight. I hope someday you and I can become real friends, not just future in-laws."

Clara cranked the ignition with an impudent smile. "I guess that depends on how often you let me drive your car."

Danny was still chuckling over her audacity when she pulled away from the curb.


	33. Chapter Thirty Two

**Chapter Thirty Two**

It hurt to open his eyes. The moment he did he was blinded by white light. Pain exploded through every cell in his body. He contorted with agony. There was a flurry of activity around him but it seemed to unfold in brief flashes. Steady beeps from nearby monitors. Urgent voices and whispered conversation. The sound of anguished sobbing from far, far away. The feel of delicate fingers squeezing his own. But mostly there was pain. So much pain that it felt like he was on fire, that he actually prayed for death. And then the warmth would come and spread through his veins, lifting him up on a cloud of bliss so that he was floating, floating, floating away...

The next time Danny opened his eyes he was in a white room with glass doors with a hushed whoosh of his ventilator as the only constant sound. The pain was still excruciating. He wanted to scream but a tube was jammed into his mouth and down into his throat and that prevented him from making a sound. He didn't like the sensation. It made him feel trapped.

As the walls surrounded him seemed to close in, the room was suddenly filled with the wild, blaring of simultaneous alarms. His heart fluttered in his chest like a maddened thing. He could feel himself slipping under. And then he felt a cool hand against his own, soothing words just on the edge of his awareness. "It's alright, Danny...it's alright...you're okay...the pain medicine should take effect soon...just relax...relax..." He felt it again then, the warmth spreading sluggishly through his body like a thick river and taking him off into oblivion...

Dreams came to him interspersed with broken pieces of his ancient past. At times, he could see himself holding Lacey only for her to become a dead Suhad in his arms. And then he was laughing with Jo, pitching popcorn into her hair only to end the memory with an image of himself gripping Ankhesenamun's neck. Clara Porter's laughter echoed in his ears again and again, her face blending into another of someone familiar and dear to him. In his mind, he raced across the desert plains of Egypt in his royal carriage with Lagus at his side. But then he was abruptly thrown, swallowed up by the sandy expanse surrounding him. "Lagus! Lagus, don't leave me!" he called out to his old friend but the seasoned warrior rode on without him, his grizzled face overcast with sorrow. _I will always be with you, my lord_ , he seemed to whisper as Danny sank beneath the surface and he galloped away into nothingness, _No matter where you go_...

The dreams ebbed and flowed with no real rhyme or reason. He didn't know how much time had passed by the time he opened his eyes again but when he did open them, he found Jo sitting at his bedside. The tube was no longer passing through his lips but positioned from his throat now. He still couldn't talk. His lips were dry and cracked and the effort to form words with no sound seemed too great. He wanted to tell her to go away, wanted to scream at her to get out, make it absolutely clear that he didn't want her there at all. But the tube was still there and his body was heavy and he was too tired to fight. Too tired and in too much pain. He closed his eyes again as an inexplicable heaviness took him under once more. His last waking thought was of Lacey.

Over time, he was able to distinguish between day and night, gradually recognizing a bit of routine in his circumstances. When it was morning, the sunlight would filter in through the large window overlooking his bed but when it was night the room would be bathed in low, artificial light. He eventually learned his nurses faces though he could not remember their names. He came to learn who brought the meds and who was responsible for his physical therapy, who bathed and suctioned him and who cleaned his room. Danny had discerned quickly enough that was in the hospital but the reason why remained elusive to him. All the while, he wondered about Lacey and why she hadn't yet come to see him...

It was daylight when he heard his father and doctor talking at his bedside, at least he _assumed_ it was his doctor based on the white lab coat. The exchange was broken due to the fact Danny kept drifting in and out but what he managed to glean kept looping through his subconscious. _"...long recovery..."_ he heard his physician say, _"...lots of physical rehab...mobility deficits...lucky to be alive...positive for cocaine, opiates and benzodiazepines..."_ The words felt meaningless, however, as if they were being spoken about someone else. Danny couldn't grasp a hold of them, couldn't understand how the pieces fit. So he slept instead and dreamt of Lacey.

The next time he awakened, Danny was jolted with confusion, imagining that he was waking up in the enemy camp and severely wounded. He felt that same anxiety and gnawing fear, inundated with a self-preserving instinct, the fierce need to run. His subsequent bucking and jarring seemed to dislodge something and the resulting pain was enough to make him black out. When he opened his eyes again, his wrists were encircled with soft restraints which had been clipped to his bed, severely hindering his movements. By then, Danny realized that he wasn't in danger anymore, that he was safe and not the target of a marauding band of Mitanni but by then it was too late to undo the situation. He was swimming in warm goo again. And, even if that had not been the case, the tube, as always, prevented him from communicating the misunderstanding altogether.

And so it went on and on for an indeterminable amount of time. He drifted aimlessly from one day to the next in a state of semi-consciousness, plagued by strange dreams and jagged flashes of memory from both the past and present melding into one. Sometimes he could see Jo and Archie standing before him, their features twisted in disdain as they defended their lie. Sometimes he imagined he heard Tara's menacing whisper against his ear, "to put your father out of his misery and die." At other times, he could see Clara smiling at him from the driver's side of his car as she reached over to crank up the radio. He could remember teasing her about maintaining her focus while behind the wheel but after that there was nothing but a black void where his memories should have been.

Faces passed before his eyes, some familiar, some not, most unwelcome and none of them Lacey. He was lamenting that very fact one particular evening when he opened his eyes and found an elderly couple with faded blonde hair and fair skin standing at his bedside. The woman gasped when she saw it, her hand flying to her mouth in shock and...what seemed to be... _relief_.

"Cam," she breathed, "Oh Cam, can you believe it? He's awake! He's looking right at us, darling! Do you see?"

"Mimi, remember what we heard the doctors tell Vikram," the man whispered back gently, "We can't be sure if he even really knows we're here. They have him very heavily sedated."

"He knows," the woman insisted tearfully. She reached over to caress Danny's cheek. He might have flinched away if he was able but, as it turned out, he couldn't move. He couldn't even coordinate his movements enough to blink. The woman leaned over to kiss his forehead then. "He knows," she whispered again, "My God, can you believe how much he looks like her? I guess I didn't imagine that he would look so much like Karen."

The man tugged at her elbow then, clearly agitated. "We shouldn't linger," he said, "If Vikram catches us in here, there'll be hell to pay, sweetheart."

The woman straightened with an angry start. "Why shouldn't we be here?" she demanded hotly, "We have as much right to be here as he does! He's our grandson for crying out loud!"

"We'll fight that battle another day," her husband told her, "But, for now, we need to leave before we lose even this."

Long after they were gone, Danny wondered about the older couple and whether they could have truly been his long absent grandparents. He was never afforded an opportunity to ask them, however, because after that visit he never saw them again. After some time had passed, it became easier and easier for Danny to convince himself that he had dreamed up the entire encounter and eventually the memory was forgotten altogether in a shroud of heavy duty narcotics and other drugs. With the number of hospital prescribed medications which were very likely flowing through his vessels on a daily basis, it was little wonder that Danny could retain anything at all.

As he began to stay awake for longer periods and react positively to something other than painful and noxious stimuli, the decision was made to extubate him. At long last, Danny was finally free of the tube and able to speak once again. He was left with a hole at the base of his neck that he had to cover if he wanted to speak, a scratchy throat and instructions that he couldn't have anything by mouth for, at least, 48 hours but he was so relieved to be free of that uncomfortable breathing tube that he didn't even care. Of course, he wasn't at all surprised that the triumphant day came without a single family member by his bedside. That was nothing new to Danny. He had gotten used to doing things on his own a long time ago.

It was only Lacey's absence that left him disturbed and confused. If he had expected anyone to be there, it would have been her. He knew that their last conversation hadn't been a pleasant one but he also knew her. She loved him. He couldn't imagine anything prompting her to stay away unless it was something particularly awful. For that reason, her continued absence nagged at him, filled him with unnamed panic and fear. He didn't know where she was or why it was taking her so long to get to him but he sensed that it was not anything good.

Danny awakened the following morning with the intention of calling her but found himself distracted when he opened his eyes fully and found Jo standing above him, her expression solemn and devoid of hostility. For a moment, Danny imagined his mind was playing tricks on him again. He blinked at her slowly, as if expecting her to dematerialize at any given moment. When she didn't, he wet his lips and whispered hoarsely, "Am...am I dreaming right now?"

"You tell me. Are you really awake right now or still in a drug induced haze?" Jo countered wryly.

"Still in a haze..." he mumbled, "...but awake...for now anyway."

"Good. I'm glad. I'm really glad, Danny."

"Why...?" He paused to swallow against the dryness in his throat before rephrasing the question. "What are you doing here? Where's my dad?"

"Away on business," Jo explained, "I can't say that I was his first choice for keeping you company while you were here but it's not like he had a lot of options. Beggars can't be choosy, I guess."

His eyes narrowed in unconcealed cynicism. "My dad actually _asked_ you to sit with me?"

"Actually I volunteered."

Not surprisingly, his expression became even more guarded. "Why would you do that?"

"Because I love you, Danny," she said simply, "I thought you knew that by now." He made a scoffing sound at that, indicating that he had his doubts about that claim. "I get that you're still mad at me."

"Not mad. Just disappointed and hurt. Lacey tried to warn me but I never wanted to believe that you would manipulate me that way."

Jo fiddled with her fingers, dropping her eyes when she mumbled, "It was complicated."

"Lies always are," he replied dryly.

That comment earned him an angry flash from her narrowed blue eyes. "Like you've never lied, Danny!" she snapped.

"I never lied to _you_ ," he countered softly.

That diffused Jo's angry bluster in a heartbeat and she dropped her eyes in chagrin once again. Danny supposed that there was really no point in carrying on their conversation any further. He was still very angry with her over what had happened and Jo...well, she was still defensive. Part of him wanted to ask her to leave right then because he had no stomach for hearing how his behavior forced her to lie to him. But, in the end, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He couldn't deny that having her there was much better than having no one at all. For all his claims that he was just fine on his own, Danny didn't actually like _being_ alone. Not at all.

He was silent for a moment, as if debating his next statement to her before finally asking rather awkwardly, "So...um...Archie...is he okay? I didn't hurt him too badly that day, did I?'

"You fractured his jaw actually," Jo told him and he could detect the rebuke in her tone when she added, "He had to have it wired shut."

"He broke my nose," Danny retorted.

Jo rolled her eyes at his quick retreat into tit for tat. "I suppose that makes you even then."

Danny grunted at that. "Nope. Not even close. I was defending myself. He was conspiring with you to, I guess, defraud me. Not really the same things, Jo."

"We weren't trying to defraud you," Jo scoffed lightly, "I've already told you before that what I did had _nothing_ to do with wanting your money and _everything_ to do with wanting you to love me."

He couldn't stop himself from asking, "How'd that work out for you?"

Duly chastened, Jo looked down at him with an expression that could only be described as regret. "This isn't what I wanted our friendship to become, Danny."

"Yeah," he grunted, "me either."

"And I get that you must still be pretty pissed at me," Jo acknowledged uneasily, "I'm probably the last person you want at your bedside right now."

"Understatement," he rasped tiredly, "But I'm too exhausted to kick you out."

"Regardless of the reason, thank you for letting me stay," she replied fervently, her blue eyes suddenly welling with fresh tears, "I've had a hard time keeping my distance ever since your accident, though God knows I've tried," she confessed fervently, her blue eyes welling with fresh tears, "There's so much that I want to talk to you about, so much that I understand now that I didn't understand then. And, after everything we've both been through, fighting with you just seems pointless and petty now. Life is too short for that and I don't want us to be enemies."

"Then maybe you shouldn't have lied to me," he reminded her without any real heat.

"Maybe I shouldn't have," she acknowledged quietly, "But can you, at least, admit that we _both_ made mistakes? It wasn't just me, Danny."

"You're right..." he croaked in concession, "It wasn't just you, Jo."

She favored him with a wobbly smile. "So then maybe you and I can start again because there's-,"

He held up his hand before she could go skipping too far down that particular line of thought. "Slow down a minute. I still don't trust you," he whispered plainly, "I don't know if I ever will again. It isn't only that you lied to me but that I had to hear the truth from _Tara_ , of all people...that you told Archie the truth but you didn't bother telling me. I don't know what to do with that, Jo. But I guess I don't hate you for it...at least, not anymore."

"I have never hated _you_ at all, though sometimes I wished I could."

"Is that why you're here? To tell me you don't hate me?"

"I'm here because we almost lost you, Danny, and because I've started to remember certain things that I think we should talk about. Archie and me both. But that can wait for now. There are other things we need to discuss first."

"Like what?"

"Like...do you understand why you're here?"

"Well, I know that I was in some kind of car accident," he told her, "I know that I fractured my pelvis in four places and my left leg is broken in two. According to the nurses here, those are pretty critical injuries and they never miss an opportunity to remind me just how lucky I am to be alive. But as far as remembering the details of anything I've been told, that's all one, big blank."

"What's the last thing you actually remember?"

Danny closed his eyes, trying to catch that last fleeting recollection. He smiled when it came to him. "Clara..." he whispered, "We were hanging out together. Maybe we were on our way to the hospital. I think we were going to see Lacey. I let her drive my car. I remember hearing _Single Ladies_ was on the radio and Clara was dancing like a lunatic." He laughed at the memory. "She and Lacey are nothing alike but she's cool. She really is. She has an old soul." _Like Lagus_. The comparison seemed to come out of nowhere for Danny and caused him some thoughtful pause.

"Clara? So that was her name, huh...Lacey's sister, I mean. Her name was Clara?"

"Yeah." Her phrasing took a few moments to dawn on him because he found himself suddenly preoccupied with the number of similarities that existed between Clara Porter and his old friend Lagus, including their penchant for no-nonsense talk and the timing in which they both had entered into his life. He was wondering if they could mean something significance when he finally absorbed the import of Jo's comment. Danny frowned a second later at her particular use of the past tense when referring to Clara. "Wait. What do you mean _was_? That moment in the car with Clara...was that the accident?"

Jo jerked a terse, sorrowful nod. "Yeah, it was."

She watched as he tensed in rising apprehension. "Clara wasn't injured, was she?"

"Danny," she began as gently as she could, "I don't know how to say this to you except to just come out and say it..."

"Come out and say what, Jo...?" he pressed anxiously when she seemed unable to finish the sentence, "Just tell me. Was Clara hurt? Is it bad?"

Once again, Jo hesitated to answer him but she knew he wouldn't stop pushing until he had the truth. She provided it for him with great reluctance. "She's dead, Danny. Clara, Lacey's sister, she died in the accident."

His reaction to that was every bit as explosive as she anticipated. He would have shoved himself upright had he possessed the strength to do so. As it was, his emotional response caused his monitors to alarm crazily as his heart rate climbed to dramatic and critical heights. "WHAT?" he cried, his already hoarsened tone breaking even more so that his voice was barely above a thready whisper, "What are you talking about? That can't be true! What do you mean 'she's dead?'"

"Calm down," she urged him, "You have to calm down first. I won't tell you the rest if you keep panicking like this. I know you're upset right now but you have to try and maintain some control."

"Don't tell me to calm down, damn it! Why would you tell me that?" he ground out, "She can't be dead. I just saw her! I just talked to her! She can't be dead." _And she might be Lagus_ , he thought wildly in his heart, _she can't be dead if she's Lagus!_

"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, Danny," Jo whispered mournfully, "I was hoping your dad would have broken the news to you by now but since he hasn't the responsibility fell to me. I thought you should know."

"I don't understand," he whimpered tearfully, "What happened? What happened?"

"From what I was told about the accident, Clara apparently lost control of the car and flipped over the highway median into oncoming traffic. You guys were smashed by a semi truck. She died on impact and you had to be flown by helicopter to the nearest level one trauma hospital, which is where you are now."

Danny tried desperately to grasps the multiple truths that were coming at him in rapid fire secession but it was too much to comprehend all at once. "No...no...this cannot be happening."

"I'm sorry to lay all of this on you."

"That's not true," he wept in outright denial, "That's not true. We were going to see Lacey and Clara was doing a good job. She was doing a really good job and I was thinking that she could probably get her license as soon as she turned sixteen..."

"Danny, she was just a kid and your car has a lot of power. Why was she driving your car in the first place?" Jo wanted to know, "Was it because she knew you were high that night? Was she like your designated driver or something?"

"What are you talking about?" Danny asked hazily, his head too preoccupied with thoughts of Clara to make sense of what Jo was telling him right then, "I wasn't high. I don't even know what that means! I can't believe what you're telling me right now. I can't even believe this is happening. I can't believe it..."

Jo understood that he was grieving and in understandable shock but she couldn't help but hone in sharply on his denial. "Danny, what do you mean you weren't high?"

He ignored that question entirely in favor of one of his own. "Where's Lacey?" he demanded a little desperately, "I need to see Lacey. Get me Lacey! Please, Jo, I need her here and she has to know that..." It was at that moment that Danny thought of how long it had been since he'd last seen Lacey and a sudden, unsettling consideration suddenly occurred to him. "Oh god..." he moaned, "Please tell me she wasn't in the car with us. Don't tell me she's dead too. I couldn't take it..."

"She's okay," Jo reassured him softly, "Lacey wasn't involved in the accident at all."

His chest hitched in painful breaths as he remained torn between visceral relief and grief. "Clara's dead. She might have been Lagus. Clara's dead. She might have been Lagus. Clara's really dead," he mumbled over and over to himself, as if trying to process the reality by repeating it aloud. "She was fifteen. She was just a little girl. She was fifteen and now she's dead. She was my friend. She was my best friend once. Lacey has to be devastated. They fought all the time but I know that Clara was her best friend too."

Strangely, Jo did not seemed the least bit unnerved in the aftermath of his emotional rambling, a fact Danny might have found curious if he had been thinking clearly. "If it helps to know, your dad sent flowers to her funeral in both your names," she said in hopes of bringing him a little comfort, "He's tried to be a support to the Porters ever since it happened, as much as he's able to anyway."

Unfortunately, her words had the opposite effect and, instead of calming Danny they made him even more agitated. For a second she feared he would be imbued with Hulk-like strength and start ripping off monitor leads. But it quickly became apparent that Danny was too weak to do even that. His mobility remained severely impaired, not only due to the muscle atrophy he had suffered since the accident but also his own injuries which were still in a state of healing. Even if he wanted to get up and go tearing through the hospital right then, he was physically unable. The realization left him lying against the mattress, panting and sweating and fighting back frustrated tears.

"I can't even move," he grumbled, "I'm freaking useless! This can't be happening."

"You have to remember that you were hurt too," Jo told him.

"Is that really true what you just told me?" he asked her, "Have they really had her funeral already?" Jo answered with a slow nod, provoking a mournful sound from Danny. "How long have I been out?"

"How long do you think you've been out?" Jo questioned rather than answering him directly.

"I don't know!" Danny cried a little wildly, his aggravation with her evident, "A few days maybe! Why the hell are you asking me this stuff! If you want to do something, help me get out of this bed so I can get to Lacey!"

"It's been _a few months_ , Danny," Jo told him before he could start yanking at his IV and the various wires attached to his body, "You've been in the hospital for a few months. Three and a half months to be precise."

"What? Are you telling me that _I've been in the hospital almost four months_? What the hell?"

"I wasn't exaggerating when I said that you nearly died," Jo replied, "You don't know how bad it was, Danny. You were a mangled mess when they brought you here. It was awful. I mean, it had to be a tough situation to get Lacey and me to put aside our differences for a while."

"Wait," he uttered in a moment of flustered confusion, "So Lacey was here? She stayed with me?"

"That first night after you were brought in we couldn't pry her out of the waiting room while you were in surgery. You could tell that she was still reeling over the news about her sister but she tried really hard to keep her focus on you."

"What do you mean by 'that first night?'" he asked warily, "Did something change? Why did she leave?"

Jo's mouth thinned into a grim line. "Your toxicology screen came back, that's why."

"And?"

"And you were positive for a lot, Danny, most notably cocaine and opiates. Did you go on some kind of binge or something?"

"No, no that can't be right," Danny denied with a weary shake of his head, as if he had just been given the wrong food order, "I haven't done cocaine in more than a year. And the last time I had heroin was only a couple of months after that. I haven't even had a painkiller since the last time I o'd. There's no way I tested positive for anything!"

"Danny, I'm telling you that you did," Jo insisted.

"And I'm telling _you_ there's been some kind of mistake! The lab is wrong. Either they mixed up my sample or somebody forged the results altogether because there is no way in hell I tested positive for drugs!"

He was so adamant and so indignant that Jo found herself wanting to believe him even though the evidence against him clearly said otherwise. "I don't know what else to say, Danny," she replied rather lamely, "I'm only telling you what I know to be true."

"Well, it's not," he snapped, thoroughly incensed, "It's not true."

Danny lay there, silently stewing and wondering which idiotic technician had screwed up his sample and wondering if that was grounds for a lawsuit when the enormity of what Jo had revealed to him finally became completely clear. He groaned inwardly. Lacey had left after his toxicology screen came back. _Damn it._ Lacey likely thought he had lied to her about being drug free. Danny cursed under his breath yet again as he considered all the unhappy implications. Lacey probably believed he had allowed her fifteen year old, unlicensed sister to drive his car because he had been too high to do it himself...and, as a result, Clara had died because of it.

As soon as it all began to come together for him, Danny flashed Jo a desperate look. "You gotta call her," he urged her frantically, "You gotta call her right now. I can't let her think that I was high when Clara..." He fixed Jo with wide, pleading eyes. "You have to call her for me, Jo."

She shook her head in refusal. "I'm the last person Lacey wants to hear from."

" _You're_ not calling her. _I_ am. I just need you to help me do it!"

"I don't know if that's a good idea, Danny," she hedged, "The Porter family is still pretty raw after everything that's happened. When everything came out about the accident, it got a lot of attention in the media and the family was bombarded. Maybe you shouldn't push it."

"Jo, she probably blames me for Clara!" Danny cried in frustration, "She thinks I lied to her! Could you just lay here and do nothing if it was you?"

"I guess not..."

"Call her for me," he urged again, "I'd do it myself but I don't even have the strength to hold the phone."

Still hesitant and quite sure that it was probably going to end badly, Jo swept up the hospital phone and dialed Lacey's phone number as Danny instructed. She answered on the third ring. Jo felt her stomach contract with dread.

"Hey, Lacey," she said in greeting, "It's me. Jo. Jo Masterson."

The line was silent for so long that Jo started to wonder if the call had disconnected but then Lacey finally said, "I know who you are, Jo. Are you calling about Danny? Did he wake up?"

"Yeah."

"Is he okay? Did they take him off the vent?"

"Yeah, yesterday evening. Today is the first day that he's really been awake though. He's pretty confused and asking me a lot of questions that I can't answer." She glanced briefly at Danny who was gesturing with his fingers for the phone. She then found herself splitting her attention between her conversation with Lacey and quelling Danny's spasmodic hand signals for the phone. "He wants to talk to you, Lacey."

"I don't want to talk to him."

"I get that but...you know...he's making himself crazy with worry about you. He wants to know that you're okay. He wants to hear it for himself."

"I'm not okay," she said brusquely, "My sister is dead and my mom won't get out of bed anymore and that's _his_ fault. I don't know if I have anything left to say to him."

"Just talk to him," Jo pleaded.

"No. I don't owe him anything. Or you, for that matter."

Meanwhile, the longer Jo ignored his hissed pleas to hand him the phone, the rowdier Danny became until she finally gave in against her better judgment and pressed the phone to his ear. "Lacey, listen to me," he blurted as soon as the receiver was within range, "I know you must be in hell right now and I want to tell you how sorry I am. I'm sorry this happened. You have to know that I would never do anything to hurt Clara or you, for that matter! I love you and-,"

He never finished the statement because at the moment he became aware of the low, buzzing tick of a dial tone. Lacey had hung up on him, Danny realized miserably. He had been so anxious to pour out his heart that he hadn't even realized she'd probably ended the call seconds after hearing his voice. Defeated, Danny closed his eyes and nodded for Jo to take away the phone as he fought back a sudden rush of frustrated tears.

"She hung up?" Jo correctly surmised when he remained silent afterwards.

"She hung up."

"Maybe you could try again later..." Jo suggested lamely, "Give her a little time to cool off."

"No. You were right," Danny concluded gruffly, "It was a bad idea. She's doesn't want to talk to me. I can't fix it."

Jo regarded Danny with sorrowful eyes as he lay there, so broken and vulnerable in his hospital bed, his injured leg and hips immobilized in traction, his face and arms mottled with varying shades of yellow and blue from faded bruises, his thin body shaking with repressed sobs. At one point in her life, she had imagined she would rejoice in seeing him so miserable. She had once thought that standing witness while Lacey Porter broke his heart the same way he had broken hers would give her the ultimate satisfaction. The reality was something different altogether. She didn't take pleasure in his misery at all, rather she ached right along with him.

When she reached over to lay her hand against his shoulder, however, he stiffened and flinched away from her. "I want you to go now," he informed her gruffly, "Thank you for bringing me up to speed about everything."

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to be alone right now."

He turned his face aside to conceal the tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. "And I didn't ask your opinion about it. Get out, Jo."

Stubbornly, she pulled up a chair and brought it closer to the bed, plopping into the seat mutinously. "I think I'll stay right here," she told him.

Danny pinned her with a ferocious glare, glittering with hurt, rage and humiliation. "What is with you?" he railed, "Are you deaf or are you just stupid? Hovering at my bedside like some lost puppy isn't going to make me love you, Jo! We're not friends! We're not anything! So would you please just _GET the hell OUT?_ "

" _NO!_ " she retorted, just as loudly, just as belligerently, "You can yell all you want or be as hateful as you want, Danny, but I'm not walking out on you! You and I have done that enough for two lifetimes!"

"Why?" he moaned as he dissolved into broken sobs, unable to dam his misery any longer, "Why do you want to stay here? Why do you even care?"

She leaned in close to press a kiss to his wet temple, stroking his hair gently as months of pent up sorrow came spilling out of him. "Because you're my brother, Tutankhamun," she whispered to him as he wept, "Where else would I be?"

* * *

 **A/N - I know this is a terrible place to leave it but I am going to be out of town until next Friday. Good news is the next chapter is written. I just have to edit it. Bad news is that probably won't happen until I get back. Sorry. Further good news is that I am three chapters away from finishing this thing. So, in total it will be 45 chapters plus a prologue and epilogue. That's ironic considering I initially meant this story to be 15 chapters long, lol. Anyway, thanks for hanging in, readers. And in the words of our beloved Lacey, "It gets better. Right?"**


	34. Chapter Thirty Three

**A/N: Since I will be flying tomorrow and I work tomorrow night, it is probably best to post this now. Please forgive the typos and know that some things in this chapter may be subject to change when I go back to edit. Hope you don't mind.**

* * *

 **Chapter Thirty Three**

"Tell me everything that you remember."

It had been two days since Danny had been removed from the ventilator and he had been making rapid progress in his health ever since. He still wasn't able to walk or turn or even sit up on his own without assistance but he felt like his mental faculties had never been sharper. Gone was the foggy confusion and inexplicable loss of control that had plagued him before his accident. Danny now felt calmer, more cognizant of his surroundings and the danger that lurked.

Because he was determined to hold on to that feeling, he had begun refusing any and all pain meds. He would prefer to lie there in pain than to experience any temporary loss of control. He quizzed the nurses almost to an aggravating degree about every medication they gave him and _why_ they were giving it to him. He watched people more closely now, found himself questioning their motives if they seemed to linger in his room too long or smile too kindly or treat him with too much compassion. He couldn't take for granted that any number of them could be one of Tara's spies. Consequently, Danny was meticulously careful about what he ate, careful about what he drank and mistrustful of virtually everyone.

His father had only come to visit him for a handful of hours within the time Danny had been ventilator free but Danny was secretly grateful for Vikram's preoccupation. His father was hardly a source of comfort even when he was at the bedside. They bickered constantly, mostly about Danny's supposed drug use and perceived reckless behavior. Their relationship remained as strained as it had been prior to Danny's accident and was, in fact, even more tenuous following Vikram's revelation that he had decided to appoint Tara as the temporary trust over Danny's financial affairs.

For Danny, that was tantamount to Vikram placing him directly in the mouth of a lioness. "How could you do this to me?" he had ranted after Vikram gave him the news, "I get that you have a real blind spot when it comes to Tara but... There was no reason to do that! You could have easily continued serving as my trustee! Why'd you have to bring her into it at all, especially when you know how I feel!"

"I didn't do it _to_ you. I did it _for_ you. Tara thinks that I'm not objective enough when it comes to setting limits for you," his father had told him, "and she's right. We need a neutral third party."

"Why don't you just hand Desai Corp. over to her on a silver platter and provide her with the knife to slit my throat while you're at it?" Danny had muttered bitterly, "Because you're giving her _exactly_ what she wants!"

Danny had been in a state of constant anxiety ever since. Vikram had placed him in a position where he had no choice except to rely on his tormentor's benevolence for survival and the realization both galled and frightened him. He was in no position to resist her. He was crippled, both financially and physically and, to a large degree, emotionally as well. He would have to depend on Tara, not only for his economic care, but for his health and recovery as well.

Upon his eventual discharge from the hospital, Danny would require extensive rehabilitation to even learn how to sit up on his own again, let alone how to stand and walk again. He was completely at Tara's mercy as to where and how he received that care or even if he received it at all. His father wasn't likely to question a single decision she made. That was what frightened him the most. Danny was completely vulnerable to her and he knew it. Furthermore, he had no way of protecting himself should Tara choose to come after him again.

It was clear that his father wasn't going to be of any assistance whatsoever and Danny had stopped expecting him to be. In truth, he was becoming increasingly suspicious of Vikram, coming to view him more and more as the enemy. For that reason, Danny didn't see the point in mentioning to Vikram that he believed someone might have been drugging him in the weeks prior to his accident. As it stood, he couldn't completely rule out the possibility that his own father probably had something to do with it.

And, even if Vikram was innocent, there was still no point in confiding in him since Danny already suspected that his father would either write off his suspicions as paranoid delusions or accuse him of lying outright. Danny was, for all intents and purposes, on his own. And as fanciful as the theory sounded, that he was being actively drugged at Tara's behest, as far as Danny was concerned, it was the only explanation that made total sense. Those drugs had gotten into his system by some means other than his willful ingestion which meant someone had to have been feeding them to him.

There was only one person who had the means and access to do that, the same person who served him practically every meal he had when he was home. _Lepa._ He didn't want to believe that the kindly, old housekeeper who had known him since he was a little boy, who had cleaned his scrapes and kissed his booboos and hugged him when his own family couldn't be bothered could also be responsible for lacing his food and drink with illicit drugs but she was, unfortunately, the likeliest suspect. And she was also, he couldn't forget, on his aunt's payroll.

Then again, Danny considered, it was also possible that Lepa knew nothing about the drugs at all. It was possible that she, along with his father too, were being poisoned right along with him, unwitting pawns in his aunt's master plan. Danny certainly wouldn't put it past Tara to drug an entire household just to get to him. However, he _did_ have a hard time believing that Tara would risk his father to do it. For all her heartlessness and inhumanity, his father seemed to be the only person in the world that Tara genuinely cared about. Danny couldn't imagine her hurting him, not on purpose. Of course, there was also the possibility that Vikram had been colluding with Tara all along for the sake of ripping Danny's inheritance right from underneath him.

The possibilities for perfidy seemed endless and they all boiled down to one, pertinent fact: Danny trusted no one. _Everyone_ was a suspect and _everyone_ was capable of hurting him. He had learned that painful truth the hard way and he was determined not to make himself vulnerable to anyone else. No matter what happened to him, he would _never_ be a pawn again.

Which brought him around to Jo, who had been the only consistent thing in his world since he'd regained full consciousness. She claimed to want to mend the rift between them, citing their complicated past as reason to build new bridges but...he didn't trust her either. She was tearful and considerate, saying and doing all the right things but Danny continued to suspect her motives. He was simply waiting for her to reveal her angle because he knew with Jo there certainty had to be one.

She would show her hand eventually. She was impatient and impulsive and she'd do something stupid to give her intentions away. In the meantime, he would wait for her to do it. He'd indulge her attempts at playing the benevolent sister but there was no way in hell that he would ever believe another word from her lying mouth. That was just the grim determination running through Danny's mind when he urged her to, _"Tell me everything that you remember."_

The mistrust in his tone was overt. Jo understood without explanation that Danny was asking for more than a retelling of past events. He wanted to know _why_. _Why did you betray me? Why did you lie to me? Why did you destroy everything I loved?_ He had over three thousand years of unanswered whys stored inside of him. His eyes fairly shouted the questions at her as he surveyed her.

"I remember when our father died," she recounted softly, "I remember your coronation. I remember playing in the gardens with you when we were children and being married when we weren't much older than that. I remember the first child we lost together. I remember when you trusted _me_ above all others. _And_..." she concluded with a deep, shuddering breath, "I remember the day you brought _her_ home. That was the day you killed Ka."

Danny inclined his head in a terse nod. "Suhad."

"Yes," Jo agreed softly, "Suhad. Also known as Lacey Porter."

He absorbed her reply with a stoic expression. "So you know about that?"

"It was pretty self-explanatory. She looks almost the same. So do you."

Not surprisingly, Danny made no reply to that. Instead, his next question was one she had been anticipating since the moment she revealed to him that she knew of their past connection. "When did you know? Was it this entire time? Was that the reason you went after me?"

"No!" she answered emphatically, lamenting the degree of mistrust he continued to harbor for her, "It was that afternoon you were arrested, the night of your accident," she went on to explain, "I watched those officers push you into that squad car and it was like the floodgates opened. I remembered everything. I don't know why. I just did. Nothing has been the same since."

He digested that revelation with a soft hum but kept his thoughts about it to himself. "And what about Archie?" he asked next, "When did he know?"

"The same time as me," she said, "That night while we were in the emergency room, the memories started to come back to him. He was still pretty ticked off at you for breaking his jaw and then he remembered that you had also killed him. I can't say you were his favorite person after that. But then later we heard about your accident and we..."

"You what? You all of a sudden gave a damn?" Danny scoffed, "I have a hard time believing that Archie was too broken up over what happened to me. This is the same man who left me to die on the battlefield after went spent an entire day fighting side by side."

"That was another life," Jo reminded him.

"But you're here and he's not," Danny observed shrewdly, "So don't try to convince me that I'm wrong."

"There is a lot of history between you both. He doesn't know how to address it yet. Archie can't decide if he's angry with you for the past or for the present. He's also worried about you too. This whole thing has left him feeling very conflicted. But he'll work it out."

"Why should he be angry at me?" Danny huffed, "He's the one who betrayed me, and in two lifetimes no less! _And_ he's the one who started the fight!"

"He did not betray you!" Jo retorted, "Not this time! He didn't find out the truth about the baby until a short while before you did."

"But he suspected the entire time and he never said a word to me."

Jo's gaze skittered away. "Yes."

"Then I'm right. He hasn't changed at all."

That superior statement incurred Jo's immediate ire and Jo was snapping back at him before she had thought her words through. "You haven't changed either," she accused him sharply, "You're still the same self-centered, self-indulgent jackass that you always were! Forever demanding loyalty and devotion from others but unable to give that same loyalty and devotion in return."

"If you think I'm such a selfish hypocrite then why are you even here?" he demanded irritably.

"Why do you think? You _are_ my brother, after all."

" _Was_ your brother. That was another life," he retorted, deliberately throwing her words back at her, "Remember?"

"It's funny. I don't remember you being this petty before."

"That's because back then I was still blinded to who you really were," he replied succinctly, "That's not the case this time around."

"So, it comes right back to that, does it?"

"It always will. You lied to me," he said, "Not just in this life but in the last one as well. How am I ever supposed to trust you again? You've tainted everything that was ever between us."

"Have you ever stopped to consider my side in all of this?" she cried.

"You mean your justifications for why you killed a pregnant woman in cold blood?" he snorted, "Or do you mean your reasons for tricking me into believing I'd gotten you pregnant this time around?"

"Both," Jo answered without blinking.

Danny tipped his head back into his pillow with a short, embittered laugh. He folded his hands neatly in his lap in anticipation of her arguments. "Oh, this ought to be good."

"You _murdered_ the man that I loved," she ground out emotionally, "right in front of me, when I was _minutes_ away from marrying him! When I was pregnant with his child! What would you have done if I had told you the truth? Would you have accepted that child or would you have mistrusted me even more than you already did? _Or_ would it have given you the excuse you needed to replace me as queen?"

"So you acted out of self-preservation," he concluded tightly, "I'm not surprised. You're not telling me anything that I didn't know already!"

"Don't look down your nose at me! And don't act as if you didn't contribute to the situation!" she cried, "You never gave me the benefit of the doubt! You came home and immediately suspected me of treason! You never even gave Ka a chance to defend himself before you slaughtered him! I thought you had died, Tutankhamun! I grieved for you! And you repaid me by destroying everything that I loved!"

"You should have seen it as a blessing. Ka was not the man you thought he was! He used you."

"Did you think Suhad was a blessing?"

He flinched at the question, his expression betraying the grief that still haunted him at having returned from his military campaign to find her dead in his bed. "It's not the same," he argued tautly, "Suhad was never a threat to you. Ka, on the other hand, left me to die!"

"You were hurt! You could have hallucinated the entire thing! Did you ever once stop to consider that you might have been remembering it wrong?"

"Is that what he told you?"

Her mutinous scowl faltered a bit. "N-No. He...he said he was torn about leaving you. But that it wasn't as premeditated and calculating as you made it sound."

Danny smirked. "He would."

"He didn't take up the sword against you that day," she snapped defensively, "He said that if it had been the gods' will for you to die on that battlefield then they would have seen to it but if it was not..."

"...much to his disappointment."

"He would have welcomed you back to the kingdom if you'd only given him the opportunity."

"Yes, just long enough to put a knife in my back. No thank you."

"Why are you saying these things?" she cried in frustration, "He was never like that and you know it! He was your friend, _your brother_! Why won't you even _try_ to see his side?"

"We've had this argument once before," he informed her tersely, "Do you think it will have a different ending this time around?"

Jo snapped her mouth shut, the indignation deflating from her as quickly as it had flared. "Do you really want us all to repeat the same mistakes we did in the past?" she asked him mournfully, "Is that how you want this to go?"

"We can't just pretend that none of it happened," Danny said, "Just like we can't pretend that you didn't lie about the baby."

"None of this has been easy for me," Jo muttered, "Or for Archie. Even if you can't forgive me, I wish you would stop blaming him."

"I didn't blame him! I never blamed him, not until he gave me a reason! _He_ blamed _me_ and then he stopped being my friend!"

"Does it really matter who did what?" Jo cried in exasperation, "Can't we all move on from it? Can we forgive each other? It's not like you haven't done that before."

The last of that statement triggered his last memory in that first lifetime, of lying in his bed while the life slowly ebbed from his body and Ankhesenamun stroked his head tenderly. The last voice he heard echoing in his ears was hers. Danny shook off the reverie with a firm set of his jaw. "I didn't forgive you, Ankhesenamun," he refuted gruffly, "I was dying and I didn't want there to be animosity between us when I did. I didn't want to hate you."

"I didn't want to hate you either," she whispered, "I still don't." She gathered his hand up between her own, her blue eyes filled with petition. "Come on. Please. Forgive me. Forgive us both. Don't let it continue this way between us! You need your family around you at a time like this."

Although there was a miniscule part of him that was compelled by her suggestion because he didn't want a repeat of the past anymore than she did and especially in light of how isolated and alone he felt, Danny could not allow himself to trust her. Her betrayal had cut too deep and the wounds were still too raw. He slowly tugged his hand from her grasp.

"I can't do that. Too much has happened and I know too much to ever believe in you again, Ankhe."

"But you _need_ me," she insisted, "You're still very sick and you have months and months of therapy ahead of you. Lacey has cut you off. Your family has never been an option! Do you actually think that either Vikram or Tara is going to provide you with the care that you need?"

"And you will?" he challenged incredulously.

"Yes! I want to take care of you. I _will_ if you allow it!"

"Why? Because you think that I might finally come to love you if you do?"

"That's not what I'm after. Not anymore."

"Since when?"

"Since I've finally come to understand why I've felt drawn to you my whole life!" she retorted fiercely, "Now I know where that connection comes from. I know what it means and what you mean to me. I know what _Archie_ means to me."

"And so you're over it? Just like that." He snapped his fingers for emphasis.

"I started getting 'over it' even before the memories came back," she told him, "I had already made my peace with the fact you're in love with Lacey."

"You expect me to believe that you're willing to accept her now?" he scoffed, "You couldn't do it then and I seriously doubt that you can do it now. You've been at odds with her since the moment you met! You hated her on sight. That's not a coincidence."

"Okay, I'll admit it! When you said she wasn't a threat to me, you were wrong about that. She _was_ a threat to me, then and now. I always felt like I was fighting her for your affection. But I've had a lot of time to think while you've been laid up in this bed, Danny, and I understand now that I didn't lose you because Suhad _stole_ you away but because I _pushed_ you into her arms. I don't want that same ending for us now," she finished hoarsely.

"It's too late, Jo. That's the ending we have."

She deflated a little before his eyes. "Can you really just forget what we mean to each other?"

"Of course I can't! That's why this hurts. That's why I don't want you here because if you could do all that you've done and still claim to love me..." He shook his head in dismay. "You're not the person I thought you were."

"I can be that person," she whispered, "Give me the chance."

"No more chances. I want you to go."

"Danny, please..." she pleaded in growing anguish, "Are you certain you want to leave it like this?"

He didn't flinch or hesitate when he answered. "Absolutely."

"Fine. Fine," she conceded in clear disappointment, "You need space. You need time to think. You know where I'll be in the meantime if you change your mind. I'm only a phone call away if you need me, Danny."

"I won't change my mind, Jo," he resolved firmly, "This is goodbye."

"Are you sure this is what you want?" she asked him again, her blue eyes penetrating.

He looked away when he answered, unable to bear the disappointment reflected in her eyes and not wanting to betray his own conflict when he said, "I'm sure."

She bobbed a small nod, blinking back her reactive tears. "Okay then. Take care of yourself. Goodbye, Danny."

Only when she was gone did Danny allow himself to feel some regret over her departure. He had to stamp down the reflexive impulse to call her back. Though the desire was strong, Danny believed it was better for him to take his chances of protecting his interests on his own than to ever trust Jo again. He believed her when she said that she cared about him and he didn't doubt her sincerity when she offered to aid in his recovery. But her first priority would always be with herself and he didn't doubt that she would sell him out in a heartbeat for the sake of her own self-preservation.

Danny realized with heavy consternation and sadness that there wasn't a single person close to him that he could trust, except for Lacey perhaps and she wasn't speaking to him. He briefly considered calling her to plead his case once again but then discarded the idea. Even though it saddened him to know that Lacey believed all the lies that had been manufactured against him, Danny recognized that now was not the time to try and prove his innocence. It was too soon after losing her sister. She would be too traumatized to hear him, much less believe him.

For now, he would have to maintain his distance from her and, in that time, he would have to find a way to prove once and for all that Tara had been targeting him. Only when he revealed his aunt for the treacherous bitch she was would he be truly free to move on with his life. Only then would Lacey feel free enough to love him and would he feel safe enough to love her in return. Resigned to that course even though he was admittedly reluctant to follow it, Danny reached over for the television remote/call light and clicked on the television, hoping to distract himself from his maudlin thoughts.

His disinterested browsing through the channels eventually brought him to a tabloid story covering the details of his accident and the aftermath. According to media reports, while Danny was now in stable condition health-wise, speculation was running rampant that he might have legal trouble to follow. The two hosts on screen discussed his recent arrest and the car accident that followed at length, debating on whether it was possible that Danny had been behind the wheel after all. The thought was that the Desai family was covering based on the fact that he had a known history with drugs and alcohol and also had an under-aged girl in the car with him as well.

From there, crude and unflattering innuendo regarding Clara's character began. She was accused of being everything from a groupie and drug addict to a naive teenage girl who had fallen in with a jaded young man full of vices. They speculated on whether she had been drawn to the Desai wealth and where she and Danny could have possibly met. From there they went on to hypothesize further as to whether there had been a possible sexual relationship between him and Clara and, at that point, Danny shut off the television in disgust.

But even in the silence their words continued to echo in his ears. He felt sick to his stomach. Clara had been none of the things they had made her out to be. She had been a courageous, wise, take charge young woman full of big dreams and a bright future who had been taken from the world far too soon. She had been the reincarnated version of one of the best friends he had ever known. Danny knew that if he felt so sick over the slander she was receiving in the media postmortem, then her family must be utterly devastated.

Before he even knew it, he was going back on his earlier resolve to keep his distance from Lacey and dialing her cell phone. It rang for so long that he imagined she saw the strange number on her caller i.d. and decided not to answer but then, at the last possible second, she answered. "Lacey, it's me," he blurted the moment she said hello, "Please don't hang up!"

Despite his frantic plea, Danny waited for the inevitable bleep and silence that would signal that the call had been ended. When it didn't come, he expelled a small sigh of relief. He gripped the phone tighter, his hand trembling violently as he whispered to her fervidly, "Please say something to me. I've missed hearing your voice so much. Talk to me."

"What do you want me to say, Danny?"

Her words were flat, monotone. He flinched a little at how devoid of life and joy she sounded. "I don't know. Say anything," he told her, "Yell at me. Cry. Curse me out if you want. _Anything_. Tell me what you're feeling right now. Tell me how I can help."

"I'm feeling tired," she replied wearily, "I'm feeling like I don't want to have this conversation with you."

"Because you're angry?"

"Because you can't help me, Danny."

"I'd like to try." When she failed to acknowledge his whispered words at all, Danny added, "I'm honestly not trying to cause you more pain. The last thing I want is for you to be hurt more than you already have, Lacey."

"Then why are you doing this?"

He managed a rough swallow, his throat suddenly aching with tears. He wanted to tell her everything he had recently discovered about Clara and about Jo but really he mostly wanted to comfort her in her time of grief. "I was sitting here thinking about you and everything that's happened. I just wanted to get out of my head so, I decided to watch some television to distract myself and... I saw a tabloid report about the accident. I...I know what they're saying about Clara and I'm so sor-,"

"Don't!" Lacey flared in a sudden burst of emotion, "Don't you dare say her name! You don't get to say my sister's name! Not ever again!"

"Lacey, please, you have it all wrong," Danny whispered, "You don't know the whole story! I swear to you, it's not what you think! Just please, can you try to trust me a little when I tell you there's a valid explanation for everything that has happened?"

"You mean there's a 'valid explanation' for why my sister died?" she snapped, "There's a 'valid explanation' for why my family is falling apart? There's a 'valid explanation' for why you lied to me, you son of a bitch! Do you think that's going to make it better for me?"

Danny grunted in chagrin. "No, that's not what I meant," he mumbled, "If you would just give me a chance to explain. If...if you would hear me out..."

"No! Stop talking! I'm going to talk now," she snapped before he could finish, "I'm done hearing you, Danny. After what happened in that first life when we were together, you would have thought I would have learned what a mistake it was to love you. I left my family and my home behind to be isolated in a place filled with people who wanted hated me and me dead and you were too distracted to protect me!

"I lost my life because of _you_ ," she wept brokenly, "and still that wasn't enough of a lesson for me! I made the same stupid choices all over again and now this time it was my sister who paid the price! I'm never going to hear her sing again...or laugh...or watch her dance around the house! That's gone forever! _You_ took that from me. _You_ took that from my family just like you _always_ have!

"Loving you has always been a curse for me," she whispered, "I'm only now letting myself admit to that. You are the _worst_ thing that has ever happened to me and I don't want to see you. I don't want to talk you. I don't want to know you at all. Just leave me alone. Don't call here again."

When the busy signal sounded in his ear that time, Danny welcomed the tone because it brought with it an end to his anguish. He was filled instead with a strange sense of peace, an emptiness that overwhelmed his broken heart and left him blissfully numb.


	35. Chapter Thirty Four

**A/N - Well, it is finally finished. I will try and update every few days as I am able to edit each part. Warning...this chapter contains some disturbing content. Be advised.**

* * *

 **Chapter Thirty Four**

"This is going to sound insane but, I think there's an old lady who is stalking me."

"Is that so?" Danny's hospital appointed physical therapist, whose name was Greg, chuckled in amusement as he drew Danny's right leg into his chest and then extended it out again in a slow, circular motion. He continued to repeat the activity as he said, "So tell me about this new admirer of yours."

"I've seen her every day this week," Danny replied, "She always seems to be hanging out in the hallway whenever we finish up with PT. The first couple of times I thought it was a coincidence and now I'm not so sure."

"How old is this mystery woman?"

"She's got to be in her sixties at least."

"Ooh, a cougar! Nice," Greg teased with a laugh, "I didn't realize you liked your ladies mature, Dan my man. I would have fixed you up with one of my mom's bridge partners a while ago."

"Hah, hah. You're hilarious," Danny deadpanned, trying not to grimace in discomfort as Greg began range of motion exercises on his left leg. "No seriously, I'm weirded out by all of this. It feels like every time I look up she's there, lurking around every corner. I can feel her watching me. I don't know if I'm being paranoid or what."

From what he knew of his guarded young patient, Greg was inclined to believe that Danny was being a little bit paranoid but he refrained from telling Danny that. Overall, in spite of the poor judgment that had landed him in the hospital, Danny Desai seemed like a pretty decent kid. He was quiet and respectful and was just enough of a control freak to make him eccentric. He certainly didn't come across as the spoiled, rich playboy that they made him out to be in the tabloids. In fact, given the severe lack of warmth that existed within his family unit, Greg would have totally excused Danny if he had gone off the rails with self-indulgence. With a family like that, it was no wonder he turned to drugs.

That was something Danny never talked about however. In truth, he never wanted to discuss _anything_ about himself at all. Should the topic include soccer, music bands, the latest videos or even the random old lady who was following him around the hospital, Danny would talk without reserve. But the moment the subject matter broached his addictions, his curious lack of visitors or the frosty dynamic between himself and his immediate family, Danny had absolutely nothing to say. He was a hard young man to get to know. It was even harder, Greg recognized, to win his trust but there was something about Danny Desai that made him want to try and earn it anyway.

He smiled down at Danny fondly, this nineteen year old boy who could have easily been his son had he ever had children, and wished devoutly that Danny could have a stronger support system than he did. But, since he didn't, Greg did all that he could during their 3 times a week session to fill in the holes left by his absentee family. Sometimes he had to remind himself to detach personally because he didn't want his affection for Danny hampering the therapy the young man needed, therapy that could sometimes be extraordinarily painful.

Presently, he bent Danny's left leg at the knee and pushed the limb up and back into Danny's chest, eliciting a deep groan of discomfort from his patient. "How does this feel?" he asked, taking note of Danny's deep frown of pain.

"It feels like you're performing some kind of medieval torture and I wish you'd stop," Danny gritted from between clenched teeth as a fine sheen of sweat began to dampen his forehead, "I _feel_ like I'm dying."

"Then I'm doing it right," Greg clucked in satisfaction, "You know what they say. No pain, no gain."

"Who is this 'they'?" Danny demanded on a gasp when the therapist repeated the motion exercise another time, "I'd like to have a word with them."

"I know it doesn't feel great right now but you'll thank me later when you're up and walking again," Greg predicted.

" _If_ I walk again," Danny prefaced grimly.

"Well, it won't happen if that's your attitude. Never underestimate the power of positive thinking, Desai."

Danny was justifiably skeptical of that theory. His doctors had been very frank with him concerning the seriousness of his injuries as well as the prospects for his recovery. A pelvic fracture could be a complicated injury to manage due to the major blood vessels housed there and the potential for damage. Danny's pelvic bone had been cracked in four different places and, while the fractures were properly healing to satisfaction, Danny was unable to bear any weight on his legs without excruciating pain. His steadfast refusal of narcotic pain medication wasn't making his ordeal any easier to bear either.

The situation was extremely serious. He had even been forced to take an indefinite leave of absence from school because there were too many variables involving his recovery. Even if he did regain the full use of his mobility, he likely wouldn't have the same level of functionality that he'd enjoyed prior to his accident. He might walk with a cane or, at least, a pronounced limp for the remainder of his life.

It was little wonder then that he passed his time with speculations about a certain well-dressed elderly woman who may or may not have been stalking him. Theorizing what intentions the woman might possibly have for him kept Danny's mind off of how lonely he felt and how much he missed Lacey. He hadn't spoken to her since that last disastrous and painful phone call more than a week ago and Danny was determined to keep it that way. As much as he wanted to talk to her, to correct the wrong assumptions she had about him and dispel the bad things she believed, Danny understood that to do so would be serving his own interests, not Lacey's.

She needed him to keep his distance. She needed to separate herself from the constant pain he had brought into her life. She needed not to know him. The least he could do was to accept that and give her what she asked.

"What are you thinking about?" Greg asked, all too familiar with the dark, far off look on Danny's face right then. Therefore, he wasn't at all surprised when his reticent patient mumbled, "Nothing."

Greg grunted. "You sure do spend a lot of time thinking about nothing, Danny."

Danny bit down on his lip to hold back his mewl of pain as Greg made another pass with his leg. "What can I say?" he grunted, "I guess I'm not that deep."

He didn't make eye contact as he said that but Danny could feel Greg's penetrating stare on him the entire time. He suspected that the therapist didn't much approve of his flippant response. That inkling was confirmed when Greg said, "You know, Danny, healing isn't just a physical affair. Recovery is deeply rooted in emotional healing as well."

"Thank you, Confucius, for your profound pearls of wisdom," Danny mocked dryly, "Now you sound just like my girlfriend." He frowned to himself when he realized what he had just said aloud before amending with a shuttered expression, "I mean _ex_ -girlfriend."

Soon after that it seemed that Danny lost the mood for conversation altogether. The remainder of his session progressed in silence. After it was over, an exhausted and perspiring Danny, positioned himself into his wheelchair for transport back to his room. Rather than calling for someone, Greg decided to see to his return personally.

As he wheeled Danny from the room and past the vending machines they inevitably crossed paths with the woman that Danny had mentioned earlier. She was petite with pale blonde hair and porcelain skin. Danny's earlier guess to Greg had been fairly accurate. She looked to be in her early to mid sixties and, from the look of her designer clothing, appeared to be well off financially. Which was primarily the reason Danny found it strange that she should so avidly peruse the vending machine's selection of _Cheetos_. She definitely didn't look like a _Cheetos_ kind of woman or a vending machine type of woman for that matter.

Yet, to the casual onlooker she appeared engrossed with making a snack collection however Danny was aware of the furtive glances she cut in his direction when she thought he wasn't paying attention. She was attractive, he supposed objectively, but her beauty wasn't necessarily what caught his attention. There was something about her that Danny found vaguely familiar. He was still staring after her quizzically as the elevator doors slid shut.

On the ride up to his floor, Greg used the incident to break the lingering tension between Danny and himself, teasing Danny once again about having found himself a cougar.

"Shut up," Danny laughed good-naturedly.

"No, seriously, she's not bad looking," Greg ribbed him, "I'd hit that."

"You are a sick man."

He was still chuckling over Greg's irreverent teasing when the therapist steered him into his room and he discovered his aunt Tara there waiting. All the good humor that Danny had been feeling prior to that moment fizzled like a drop of water in the scorching desert heat. Even Greg could easily detect the chilling tension in the air and became eager to make himself scarce. As Tara Desai shifted to her feet, he mumbled something about needing to get back downstairs for his next session and beat a hasty retreat.

Danny watched him go with a petulant grumble. "Traitor." Left with no choice except to acknowledge Tara now that they were alone, Danny swiveled back around to face her. "Hello, Tara."

"Hello, Daniel," she replied formally, "I can see you've made a great deal of improvement since I saw you last. You're looking much better."

"Oh yeah?" Danny replied in challenge as he wheeled himself over to the bed, "And when was the last time you saw me exactly? Because I don't remember too many visits from you, Tara." Without assistance and in a series of coordinated and practiced moves, Danny fluidly shifted his body from the wheelchair to the bed. He favored her with a cool look after he was done.

"Let's not pretend that you would have welcomed my presence, Daniel."

"And let's not pretend that you care," he countered in turn, "So, since we both know that there is no love lost between us, why don't you tell me why you're really here?"

"I wanted to see for myself the progress you've been making."

"Why?"

"To hear your doctors tell it, you're nowhere near ready to leave the hospital," she said, "According to them you'll require at least another full week in the hospital."

"So?"

"So, from what I've seen that seems to be a gross exaggeration. You seem all but fully recovered to me."

"Tara, I'm still receiving IV antibiotics twice a day," Danny pointed out crossly, "Not to mention the fact that _I'm confined to a wheelchair._ Or didn't you notice that? If the docs don't think I'm ready to go, I'm not ready to go!"

He had to check the impulse to beat his fists into the mattress in frustration when Tara merely shrugged in response. "Nonetheless, you seem self-sufficient enough to handle that particular handicap. The rehabilitation facility I've chosen will gladly continue your antibiotic therapy. There's absolutely no reason why you can't leave here as soon as possible."

"Except for the fact that I don't want to leave and you don't get to make that decision for me," Danny snapped.

"Except I _do_ ," Tara returned smoothly, "I may not be your medical power of attorney but I _am_ the one who pays your hospital expenses. How do you suppose you'll remain here without the funds to pay for your stay?"

Danny went utterly still at her veiled threat. "You wouldn't dare."

"I would and I have. You're set to be transferred to Green Grove's Grassy Acres first thing tomorrow morning. You'll be transported by a mobile EMS. It was the least expensive option I could find."

He blinked at her incredulously, shaking his head as if attempting to clear his ears. "What did you say?"

"I think you heard me, Daniel."

"You can't do that!" he cried.

Tara expelled a bored sigh. "I think we have already established that I can," she said, "Please don't be a child about this and make a scene. I'm in no mood for one of your tantrums."

"You're screwing around with my life here!"

"Oh please," Tara scoffed, "If anything, I've spared you from the punishment you so richly deserve! At your father's behest, I dropped the assault charges against you. I've done my best to shield you from negative media coverage. I have even overlooked your unwarranted hatred for me and devoted myself to finding a rehabilitation center that will continue to further the progress you've made here! After all of that, the least you can do is thank me, you ungrateful, little boy!"

Danny's responded to her indignant monologue with three, succinct words. "Go to hell."

Tara grunted a mirthless laugh. "You still haven't learned the error in biting the hand that feeds you," she murmured, "Quite literally in your case."

"I want to talk to my dad," Danny insisted stubbornly.

"Vikram has entrusted me with all of the details for your care," she said, "I'm afraid he's much too overwrought to handle it himself."

"I hate you."

When she started to move closer to him, Danny flinched reflexively, bracing himself for the blow he expected to come. Instead, Tara leaned forward with a twisted smile and then did something that Danny would have never expected. She caressed his face, her thumb brushing almost tenderly across his lower lip as she stroked his cheek. "And yet you need me, don't you, nephew?" she whispered, "We will talk when you're more recovered about how you can show your gratitude." Danny flinched away from her touch with a revolted grimace. Tara straightened with a satisfied smile. "Don't worry. You'll learn to appreciate my touch. One day, you'll even crave it."

After she was gone, Danny sat in his bed, gripping the sheets hard. He fought back waves of rolling nausea, his breath coming in shallow pants as Tara's parting words sent him careening into a state of utter panic. Suddenly, he was thirteen again, helpless, confused and more terrified than he had ever been in his life. He had resigned himself to the knowledge that Tara hated him enough to poison him and even arrange for his death but he had never imagined that she would want to use him for _that_. Just the thought alone made him want to vomit.

He was miserably aware that he was trapped. There was no one that he could call to come to his aid. No one who would swoop in and save him. His father was useless. Archie and Jo couldn't be trusted. Lacey didn't want to see his face again. He was going to become Tara's victim one way or another, Danny realized, and there was nothing at all that he could do about it.

Restless and agitated, Danny eventually shifted back over into his wheelchair and found himself wheeling aimlessly through the quiet corridors of the orthopedic unit. After what seemed like hours but in reality was only minutes, Danny found himself in a large atrium filled with flowers and natural trees. It was the hospital's equivalent of a quiet room, a place for patients and visitors alike to find refuge and inner peace.

Danny wheeled himself closer to the man-made fountain at the very center of the room and tipped forward to stare down into the clear, glassy surface of the water. It was surprisingly deep, at least five feet. If he fell in, there would be no way he'd be able to stand up in order to bring his head over the surface. Maybe if he didn't fight, he'd even sink to the bottom. Maybe he'd drown...

That serious contemplation was just beginning to take root in Danny's mind when he felt a hand fall onto his shoulder. He tipped his head back and found himself staring into the bright blue eyes of his suspected stalker. He blinked at her in surprise, suddenly ashamed of the morbid musings he had been entertaining only seconds before. Hoping to cover, Danny favored her with a polite but weak smile. "Hello."

"Hello. Are you alright?" she asked him, coming around him to take a seat on the ledge of the fountain, "I was passing by and I saw you sitting here. You looked so...defeated."

"That's exactly how I feel," Danny confessed thickly, "Everything in my life is screwed up right now."

"I'm sorry to hear that," the woman said in a tone that sounded genuinely commiserative, "Would you like to talk about it? I know you don't know me but sometimes it helps to talk to a stranger. It removes some of the pressure."

"But _do_ I know you?" he blurted out without preamble, "I've noticed you all over the hospital. You seem to show up wherever I am."

The woman smiled at him. "Guilty as charged. I suppose I'm not as stealthy as I thought."

"No," Danny agreed, unsmiling.

"I apologize if I've made you feel uncomfortable."

"It's not that. I guess I'm just wondering why," he told her, "No offense to you or anything because you are an attractive woman but...I'm not really into older women." He thought of his aunt and the undeniable pass she had made at him just an hour prior. Danny shuddered with the memory. "Not at all."

To his surprise, the woman chuckled merrily at his assumption, chortling so long that she had to literally wipe away tears of mirth before she spoke to him again. "I'm not trying to hit on you!" she chuckled, "You're the exact same age as my grandson!"

"Oh." His unease with her was abruptly replaced with sheepish embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I just thought..."

She patted his hand in tacit forgiveness. "Don't worry about it?"

His straight, dark brows knit together in a befuddled frown. "So then if you're not following me around because you want me, why are you following me?"

Her blue eyes flashed briefly when pain when she whispered, "It's just that...you remind me very much of my daughter. Your mannerisms, the way you smile, even your laugh sounds so much like her. She died many years ago."

He absorbed that explanation with mixed emotions, torn between sympathy for her loss and disquietude at the realization that she had been watching him so closely. Finally, he said, "I'm sorry for your loss."

Before the mood could descend into outright gloominess, however, the woman's smile was restored and she thrust her hand out to Danny. "I'm Miriam," she said, "But most people call me Mimi."

Danny reached out to shake her hand firmly. "Nice to meet you, Mimi. I'm Danny."

"So why ever are you sitting in this place, as lovely as it is, all alone, Danny?"

"It's a long story."

Mimi made a cursory show of consulting her watch. "I have the time."

"It's complicated," he said gruffly, "I don't like to talk about it."

"Then what would you like to talk about?"

Danny thought for a moment, considering the short list of things he might be comfortable sharing with a stranger. "Tonight is my last night here," he said, "I'm being discharged to Grassy Acres in Green Grove, New York tomorrow morning."

Mimi recoiled from that disclosure with a deep frown. "Grassy Acres?" she echoed with a marked lack of enthusiasm, "That sounds like a nursing home."

"That's what I thought too."

"Can't you be cared for at home?" Mimi wondered, "Perhaps by a private nurse and personal physical therapist. Surely, health insurance can cover such things and I'm absolutely sure that would be better for you."

Danny shrugged, belying his own churning anxiety over the entire situation. "My aunt seems to believe this facility will have no trouble helping me continue the progress I've made while I was here."

Mimi's frown deepened. "Your aunt? Why would your aunt be overseeing your affairs? What about your parents?"

"My mother died a few days before my second birthday," Danny explained, "and my dad is...uninvolved."

"Is that a recent development?" Mimi asked carefully.

"No, not really. He's been that way most of my life. But I'd take his disinterest over my aunt Tara's cruel streak any day of the week." Danny could have sworn he glimpsed something akin to seething hatred flash behind Mimi's eyes but when she looked at him, her blue gaze was as kind as ever.

"I'm so sorry you've had to endure that kind of life, Danny."

"Why are you apologizing? It's not your fault." He regarded her with a puzzled look. "I'm not even sure why you care. I'm a stranger to you."

"I'd like to think that if someone noticed my Karen sitting alone, looking so dejected and lost, they would have stopped to help her too."

"Karen? That was your daughter's name?"

"Yes."

"Small world. That was my mom's name." Unaware of the emotion he was evoking with those simple words, Danny asked, "Was she your only child?"

"No. I have a son as well," she replied, "Karen's older brother by two years. Chase. They were extremely close when they were young."

"He must have been devastated when she died," Danny murmured, thinking of Lacey right then.

"He was. My family was never the same after that."

"I'm sorry," Danny whispered again. "You don't have to talk about this if it's too painful for you."

"I'm fine," she reassured him with a forced smile, "But I'd rather hear about you. Do you remember much about your mother?"

"Not really. I've seen pictures of her so I know that she was really pretty," he recounted, "She had an amazing smile. My dad used to tell me stories about how they met when I was little but as I got older he talked about her less and less. I think because it was a sore spot for my aunt Tara. She and my mom didn't get along."

"Your aunt seems to wield a lot of influence over your father," Mimi observed in a stony tone of voice. She almost sounded angry in Danny's estimation though he couldn't imagine why should would be.

For some inexplicable reason, he felt compelled to reassure her. "It's no big deal. I got used to that dynamic a long time ago."

"That's no excuse to rob you of your mother's memory!" Mimi ground out, "It was the only connection you had to her! He should have told you every day how much she wanted you, how much she adored you, how she thought you were one of the single greatest moments of joy in her entire life! He had no right to keep that from you! But that's just like him, to be the selfish, spineless bastard he's always been! He never deserved her love, not even from the very beginning!"

Danny blinked at her, taken aback by her unexpected rant and the highly personal nature to it as well. "I'm sorry, do...do you know my father somehow?"

Rather than answering his question directly, Miriam covered his fingers with her hand and gave them a light squeeze. "Danny, I didn't want to overwhelm you," she began shakily, "Cam said we should wait for a more opportune time to approach you but I was so impatient. After we were able to see you again, touch you...I couldn't stay away.

"But it wasn't simple, you see? You didn't know who I was. You had no memories of me at all. I...I thought that maybe I could let you get to know me first and then-,"

"-Who are you?" he interrupted brusquely though, God help him, he already knew.

"My last name is Kincaid," she whispered, "I'm your grandmother."

Danny snatched back his hand as if he had just been burned, filled with instant betrayal. He wheeled himself backwards a few paces and speared her with an accusing glare. "You lied to me. You _tricked_ me."

"No. I chose to tell you only what I knew you were ready to hear," she corrected softly.

He snorted at her careful phrasing. In fact, her pretty spin on it just infuriated him all the more because, from his viewpoint, hers was yet another lie in a long list of lies that he had been fed recently. "No, you deliberately misrepresented yourself and you manipulated me!" he spat, "Just like everyone else in my freaking life! You're no better than my dad and Tara!"

"Danny, that's not true. My intention wasn't to manipulate you at all."

"So what _is_ your intention exactly? Are you hoping to use me as a pawn to stick it to my dad? What was your whole angle here?"

"To get to know you. That's all. That's all I've wanted for the past seventeen years."

"Right," he snorted again, his disbelief evident in every bit of his body language. He placed his hands to the wheels of his chair with the obvious intent of rolling out of there. "Whatever vendetta you've got going on with my father, I don't want to be a part of it," he snapped angrily, "You want to go after him? I don't give a damn. Just leave me out of it."

Later that evening, Danny inevitably passed a sleepless night for a number of reasons. When he wasn't obsessing over Tara and making himself crazy trying to imagine the repulsive plans she had in store for him, he was reeling from the knowledge that he had finally met his maternal grandmother. He had learned that he had an uncle and a grandfather and that his mother had loved him more fiercely than he could have imagined. But he has also learned that Miriam Kincaid was actually quite adept at deceit, a trait that didn't do a great deal to set her apart from the other liars that comprised his closest family.

Of course, Danny was reasonable enough to recognize the impossible situation in which his grandmother had been placed. She hadn't lied out of self-preservation or even for disreputable purposes but because she hadn't wanted to overwhelm him with the truth so soon after meeting him. Danny got it. He truly did but understanding her motives didn't help him to feel any less duped. After Clara's death and his breakup with Lacey, Danny had been in a very delicate state of mind and heart which made it very difficult for him to open up to people and even harder to trust them because his entire life had been in a constant flux ever since.

That was what made his encounter with his grandmother so frustrating and even a little heartbreaking. He _wanted_ to know her. He _wanted_ to welcome her into his life. He wanted to ask her a million questions about why she had stayed away so long and why she had disappeared from his life at all. But he also didn't know if he would be able to fully trust any of the answers she provided. Because their initial encounter had begun with trickery, albeit for understandable reasons, Danny couldn't deny that there would likely always be a part of him that continued to question her sincerity in the aftermath, always wondering what else she was willing to lie to him about.

Somewhere near dawn he made the painful decision to maintain his distance from her. He had survived without her in his life for nineteen years already, he considered to himself, and he could survive indefinitely if he had to. In the meantime, he had to maintain his focus on protecting himself from Tara. It seemed that the more vulnerable he was, the more emboldened she became. He couldn't let her take advantage of him but he also couldn't afford to alienate her either. Essentially, he was between a rock and a hard place and he knew it.

By eight o'clock when the transport team finally arrived to take him to Grassy Acres, Danny was in quite a pissy mood. That mood was invariably worsened when Tara arrived and then proceeded to hang out, watching closely as the EMS technicians gathered up all of Danny's possessions and lastly gathered up Danny in preparation for transport. They had just finished strapping him onto the portable stretcher when Greg arrived to say goodbye.

After Greg had said his final goodbye and the two shared a manly hug, Greg surreptitiously passed a small, scrap of folded paper to Danny, pressing it into his palm in an effort not to make Tara suspicious. Danny wisely kept the noted concealed in his pocket then and waited until he was safely ensconced in the back of the paramedic van with Tara following behind them in her car before finally pulled the note free to read it. One look at the elegant scrawl on the outside of what appeared to be a jagged piece of stationery told him that Greg hadn't been the one to write it.

It was from his grandmother. She had written:

 _Danny, I am so sorry I didn't reveal my identity to you from the beginning. I suppose I never thought I would be in a position to know you and, when I was, I think I panicked a little. Not because I had second thoughts about knowing you but because I feared that you would reject the idea of knowing me. Fear is a powerful motivator and it sometimes compels us to make poor choices. But I will not apologize for loving you or wanting to protect you. You are my grandson, Danny, and my last living link to my beautiful Karen._

 _I realize, however, that you are angry with me and perhaps even feeling a little manipulated. I am sorry for that as well. But I don't want you to cut off all contact with me, not when there are things that you still don't know or understand...about your father and about his marriage to your mother. Vikram Desai is a man of many secrets, Danny. I have never believed it was in your best interest to remain with him. Unfortunately, the legal system prevented me from changing that. But that, my dear, is a story for another time, if you wish to hear it._

 _Whatever decision you make, please know that your grandfather and I love you very much. We miss you and we want you to be with us. But the choice is yours. We won't force you either way. And should you be even a little curious or inclined to know and love us too, I close this note with all of our contact information. Call us, write to us, text us at any time, day or night. We do not care. We want to hear from you. Should you need anything at all, do not hesitate to contact us._

 _Your loving grandmother,_

 _Mimi Kincaid_

As promised, she had closed the noted with both her and her husband's contact number and home address in Connecticut, even going so far as to list her email address and fax number. Danny felt an amused smile tug at the corners of his mouth when he considered her endearing thoroughness but then his smile faded almost as soon as it manifested itself. Mimi Kincaid had written all of the right words and she presented herself as being quite sincere but, at the end of the day, she was still a stranger to him. She was still another person who had approached him from behind a facade of ulterior motives, no different from Archie, Jo, Tara, Lepa and even his own father.

Perhaps his standards for humankind in general were much too high but Danny didn't particularly think they were. There were, at least, a dozen other ways that Miriam Kincaid might have approached him without misrepresenting herself. How long had she been lurking about while he was receiving his physical therapy treatments? How long had she been watching him period? She'd had so many opportunities and she had squandered each and every one. For that reason, despite the large part of his heart that had been compelled by her words, he remained wary of her intentions.

Blinking back the tears of frustration that came with those feelings, Danny re-pocketed the note with a heavy sigh. He wouldn't contact her. He had enough liars in his life already with which to contend. He certainly couldn't afford to add another. Decision made, albeit with a heavy heart, Danny finally allowed exhaustion to overtake him and, after nearly twenty four hours without sleep, at last closed his eyes. When he awakened again some six hours later it was to discover that they had reached their final destination.

Grassy Acres of Green Grove, New York wasn't quite the dump that Danny had been expecting. Rather than finding a basic facility with white tiled walls and heavily scented with urine mixed with the wafting odor of death, he was greeted by what looked to be a palatial resort with a rolling green lawn and a colorful garden. Further surprising was the knowledge that he was going to be staying, not in the main facility but in one of the charming, little cottages located just on the edge of the property.

Each unit was equipped with intercoms and all the medical necessities offered by Grassy Acres but was designed to be almost a home away from home. His particular unit was overlooking a large lake, though access to the water was gated. Danny wheeled himself from room to room, his eyes wide with disbelief and awe as he absorbed the reality that _this_ was the facility Tara had chosen for him. Naturally, he was mistrustful of her motives.

He angled his wheelchair around to face her. "Why?"

"Did you think I meant to leave you in some godforsaken facility to rot?" Tara asked him.

"Yes, actually."

"You're still a Desai, Daniel," she told him as if that were explanation enough for her inexplicable behavior, "and you are my family."

Her bizarre attempt at kindness worried Danny more than her cruelty would have. Fortunately, he didn't have to spend his days attempting to puzzle out her behavior. Once he was officially situated in Grassy Acres as a resident, Tara stayed away for several weeks and provided Danny with a much needed break. Over the course of those few weeks, however, Danny learned that Tara had been surprisingly true to her words when she said that his therapy would continue just as it had while he'd been in the hospital.

Within that time, Danny's life was as close to ideal as it had ever been. Due to emerging business with Desai Corp. Tara was kept away and while she was gone Danny flourished. He knew a large measure of freedom during that period. Often he was granted unlimited access to the grounds and gardens whenever it struck his fancy. He wasn't forced to stick to the regimented meals but, instead, allowed to eat what he liked, when he liked. Should he want pizza delivered every night without fail, pizza was delivered every night, though that didn't stop Danny from being careful to inspect anything he ate or drank for potential contamination. It was never far from his mind that, no matter how beautiful the facility, he was in his enemy's prison and she remained a threat.

In the meantime, Danny focused on his therapy, determined to build up his physical and mental strength for whatever attack Tara was planning to launch against him next. After what seemed like a relatively short time, Danny was able to progress to using a walker as opposed to a wheelchair. He was mostly still unsteady on his feet and still experienced pain when he tried to walk but he had learned to stand unassisted and that was a small feat in itself.

In between honing his physical strength, he tried to be proactive while anticipating Tara's inevitable attack, going so far as to write a letter to Lepa, detailing his suspicions about her part in his recent misfortune. He hoped that if he could compel her to confess something he might gain the needed leverage to put Tara in jail. Unfortunately, Lepa never answered his letter and with her lack of acknowledgment also died Danny's last hope that he would ever get up from underneath his aunt's oppressive thumb.

Left with little choice in the matter, Danny tried to make his recovery his sole focus. Only when he was able to figuratively stand on his own could he make a clean break from Tara. He worked himself to the point of exhaustion. And, when he wasn't fatigued to the point of immobility after pushing his body to the physical brink day after day, his mind would almost inevitably drift back to Lacey because she was really the truly good thing in his life that remained. Yet, even his memory of her was tainted.

A month had passed since the last time they spoke and her last words to him continued to echo in the back of his mind. _Loving you has always been a curse._ Danny winced inwardly with the memory. It hurt to know that Lacey equated loving him with pain, misery and loss, doubly so because _he_ equated loving _her_ with joy, hope and life. When Jo revealed to him that she had remembered their past, Lacey had been the first person he'd wanted to call. And when his grandmother had come back into his life, she had been the one person he had wanted to tell. When he took his first, unassisted step, Lacey had been the one with whom he wanted to share the news.

Even absent from his life, she still continued to permeate every part of it. He often wrote her letters in the late hours of the night, when the silence between them finally overwhelmed him to a point past bearing but ultimately he would leave those letters un-mailed. He couldn't forget that she had asked him to stay away and, as much as it tore him apart inside, he wanted to give her what she asked. Danny knew if there was ever any further communication between them, Lacey would have to be the one who reached out. He harbored the secret hope in his heart that one day, she would.

Danny gradually developed a routine during his stay at Grassy Acres. In the morning, he would have fruit and water for breakfast and then follow that up with a physical therapy session that lasted until the late afternoon. After that, he would enjoy a light lunch and a walk around the perimeter of the lake, accompanied at all times by a nurse. For dinner, he would often order out and end the day in front of the television set. Before he went to bed, he would write a letter to Lacey, read it and then destroy it. Danny was so accustomed to that day to day mundane drudgery that he was wholly unprepared for the moment Tara chose to collect her payment.

He was sleeping in his bed one night, after a day that had passed like all the countless ones before it, and dreaming of Lacey. In his dreams, they were walking together through the winding corridors of Tutankhamun's palace, laughing and smiling together with their small daughter, a miniature version of them both, between them. He leaned in closer to kiss Lacey's smiling mouth, feeling joy so profound and overwhelming it caused tears to form in his throat.

Gradually, however, the kiss began to change from something quick and sweet to something deep and hungry. The scenery of his dream shifted then and he and Lacey were suddenly on his golden bed together, wrapped in one another's arms, naked and writhing and kissing wildly. Danny groaned in his sleep, his brain beginning to register the very real sensation of kissing as the line between dream and reality began to blur. Danny opened his eyes then to discover a half naked Tara draped across his body and rolling her hips against his in an unmistakable rhythm.

Danny's reaction was immediate. He shoved Tara away with a disgusted yelp before scrubbing his hand across the back of his mouth to wipe away the lingering taste of her revolting kiss. He stared up at her with an incredulous eyes. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Tara offered him a feline smile. "Come now, Daniel, you're hardly a naive little boy," she purred softly, "You know _exactly_ what I'm doing." She started to climb over him once more but Danny reached up to grasp her firmly by the shoulders.

"Stop it!" he hissed furiously, "I don't want you touching me like that!"

She tipped a meaningful nod towards his groin and the clear evidence within his pajama bottoms that he had not been left unaffected by her machinations. "Is that so?"

"I was asleep," he grunted with some measure of shame, "I don't want you like that! You're my _aunt_ , for crying out loud! This is sick!"

"People always say that about things they don't understand," Tara whispered.

The way she said it caused the fine hairs on Danny's neck to prickle. It was almost as if she had been told the same thing once herself. "I don't want you," he told her firmly, "You need to get dressed and get out of here right now."

Far from heeding his order, Tara scooted closer to him. "It always feels forbidden the first time," she told him, "Just close your eyes, nephew. I'll do all the work."

"NO!" Danny cried again, this time shoving her hard enough to knock her from his bed completely. As she tumbled to the floor with an unceremonious thump, Danny poised his finger to the intercom button that was directly tied to the nurse's station located only a few hundred feet from the cottages. "If you don't want to have to explain why you're half naked in your nephew's bedroom in the middle of the night, I suggest you get the hell out of here, Tara," he warned her tautly.

The threat was mostly a bluff. The last thing Danny wanted was to alert anyone to what had just happened, what _he_ had done. When he thought about the fact that he had been _kissing_ his own aunt moments before, _touching_ her intimately, he felt physically ill. The bile burned in his throat. It didn't matter that he had been half asleep when it all happened, it had _still_ happened and Danny was fairly inundated with shame and embarrassment in the aftermath.

Thankfully, Tara did not call his bluff. She glared at him for a long time before finally stooping to yank up her discarded clothing from the floor. "I have been more than patient with you, Daniel," she spat irately as she dressed, "Haven't I given you everything? Haven't I treated you with care? Haven't I offered you chance after chance? And yet, you've proven yourself ungrateful at every turn! Well, I've had enough." She fixed him with a warning look, full of malice and rage. "Now you will see exactly what happens to people who cross me!"

When she finally left him, Danny was trembling violently. His heart fluttering like a maddened thing, he pushed himself upright in bed and clicked on the nightstand light, his mind turning furiously at what he should do next. He couldn't call the police. It would be Tara's word against his and knowing her she would spin it in a way to make him look bad. There was no one else, besides Lacey, that he could trust to actually help him and unfortunately she wouldn't be remotely interested in doing so. His options were limited. There was only one thing he could do if he wanted to escape his aunt and whatever fresh hell she had planned for him. He didn't want to but it was the lesser of all evils in his opinion.

Resolved, Danny opened the drawer to the nightstand to retrieve Miriam Kincaid's note and then picked up the phone to make the call.


	36. Chapter Thirty Five

**Chapter Thirty Five**

Jo wedged her booted foot in the door, preventing Lacey from slamming it in her face. "You didn't think I'd make it that easy, did you?"

Lacey blew out a sharp, exasperated grunt, mildly intimidated to find Jo and Archie standing on her front porch shortly after eight a.m. She bounced a wary glance between the two of them. "What do you want?" she demanded impatiently, only to follow it up with an even more important question, "And how do you know where I live?"

Under different circumstances, Jo might have been amused by Lacey's confused irritation but, at that moment, she had more pertinent matters on her mind. Thus, she got straight to the point. "That's no important right now," she said, "Have you heard from Danny? He's missing."

Her swamping aggravation prevented Lacey from absorbing the last of that statement initially. "Why would I have heard from Danny?" she snapped, "He and I don't speak anymore."

"Are you sure?" Jo pressed a little fretfully, "He hasn't called you once?"

Refusing to be interrogated and already past the threshold of her patience, Lacey started to close the door again only to have her efforts thwarted once more, this time by Archie. He braced his large hand against the door and then his body, heaving forward and leaving Lacey no choice but to stumble aside so that he and Jo could enter. She sputtered in rage over their audacity.

"This is trespassing!" she cried furiously, "I'm calling the police!"

"God, Lacey! Get over yourself for a minute," Archie bit out tersely, "Do you really think we would be here if it weren't important? Now have you heard from Danny recently or not?"

"Not in over a month!" she spat, "We spoke briefly. I asked him not to call me again! That's it!"

She resented being forced to reveal even that much. Her life had been in a perpetual shambles for nearly four months. She and her mother were only just beginning to regain some quasi state of normalcy in the wake of Clara's unexpected passing. It had taken some work and time but Lacey was finally moving past the initial stage of anger and blame regarding her sister's death and settling into acceptance. That didn't mean, however, that she was ready to deal with anything concerning Danny Desai.

Lacey couldn't forget that it had been _his_ car Clara had been driving the night she was killed. She couldn't forget the revelation that Danny had been high the night it happened. The details as to what had happened and why had been muddy in the beginning but as they became clearer in the wake of the accident, Lacey grew to resent Danny more and more.

According to Clara's friends, they had been on their way to see a movie at the local cinema when Clara had spotted Danny across the street in a park that was known for being a place for drug buys. They said that Clara had later blown them off in favor of staying with Danny and "seeing him home safely." Lacey could only imagine that her sister had taken it upon herself to become Danny's designated driver when she saw he was in no condition to drive himself. Knowing Clara, she had probably imagined she was doing Lacey a favor by taking care of Danny. She would later pay for her benevolence with her life.

It shouldn't have happened and it _wouldn't_ have happened, Lacey told herself fiercely, not if Danny hadn't been high in the first place. Not if he hadn't been such a liar and so firmly entrenched in his denial. And not if she hadn't trusted him in the first place, even when everyone around her was warning her against it. Danny was to blame for what happened to her sister that night but she shared the blame as well. It was a truth that Lacey was still struggling to accept. Naturally then, having Archie and Jo show up at her front door uninvited and bring all of those conflicted feelings roaring to the surface again, was the last thing she needed.

Unfortunately, neither Archie nor Jo seemed to possess even the smallest amount of decency needed to accommodate her grief. It was clear from their belligerent stance that they had no intention of leaving without being forced to do so. They were going to force her to make a scene, Lacey realized. Jo, in particular, continued to question her rigorously, starkly impervious to how upsetting Lacey found the entire ordeal.

"What did you talk about when he called? Did he mention anything about Tara? Did he say anything about where he was going or what the plan was for his care?" she fired, immediately following up each query with another, "Did he give you any indication of what was going on with him at all?"

"I already told you," Lacey reiterated tightly, "We didn't really talk. I told him to stop calling me. He did. End of story."

Jo bit out a short, mournful curse under her breath and buried her face briefly in her hands. "Oh my god...this is not good, Archie," she muttered, "This is _so_ not good."

Against her better judgment, Lacey found herself asking, albeit wearily, "What's not good?"

Archie drew a shaking Jo into his arms before addressing Lacey over her head. "We told you already," he said, "Danny is missing. We have no idea where he is right now."

Lacey frowned. "I thought he was in the hospital."

Jo lifted her head from Archie's chest then and took a second to compose herself before clarifying matters for Lacey. "He _was_ in the hospital," she explained, "but his dad said that Tara were supposed to have him transferred to a rehab facility here in Green Grove. Archie and I checked. Danny's not there."

"So you got the wrong facility," Lacey considered with a shrug, "Big deal."

Archie negated that assumption with a curt shake of his head. "That's what we thought too," he said, "So we checked with Mr. Desai again to make sure we had the right place and he stonewalled us."

"Stonewalled you?" Lacey echoed in confusion.

Jo nodded. "He told us that Danny was no longer our concern and to stop calling him."

Lacey expelled a short, humorless laugh. "Are you really surprised that he said that after what you and Archie pulled? You manipulated his entire family! You're lucky he didn't sue you for fraud!"

"He didn't seem to have a problem with that when he was asking me to sit with Danny after the accident," Jo pointed out tersely, "He was more than willing to have me around then! Now suddenly I'm persona non grata? It doesn't make any sense!"

"I don't have any answers for you. That's something you're going to have to take up with Mr. Desai," Lacey replied in a dismissive tone, "In the meantime, that doesn't mean that Danny is missing. It just means his father doesn't want you to know where he is. Considering the circumstances," she concluded with a disdainful sniff, "I don't blame him." She gestured toward the door before pulling it open for extra emphasis. "Feel free to leave now."

Archie sneered at her. "You really don't get it, do you?" he bit out, "Something bad might have happened to Danny. No one has seen or heard from him since he left the hospital. His cell phone is out of service. It's like he just disappeared off the face of the earth!"

Lacey found herself unexpectedly chilled by the disclosure. She deliberately pushed the front door shut before pivoting to face them again. "What do you mean is cell phone is out of service?" she asked with a nervous laugh, "Do you mean he's not answering your calls or that they're going to straight to voice mail or that..."

Jo cut in to explain before Lacey could continue to theorize. "I mean that when we call, we get an automated message that says the account no longer exists."

"What?"

It was in that moment that Jo knew that she had gained Lacey's full and undivided attention. "That's what we've been trying to tell you, Lacey," she said urgently, "I think something really bad has happened to Danny."

An icy tendril of fear trembled down the Lacey's back and her immediate response to the sensation was to fall into denial. "No, that's crazy," she muttered, "Maybe he just changed his phone number. People do that! People change their numbers!"

"Has he contacted you to tell you that?" Jo pressed a little desperately, "Do you have any missed calls from strange numbers on your caller i.d.? I doubt that he would call Archie or me to let us know that but he would definitely call you! Can you check?"

Lacey disappeared from the foyer before she even finished asking the questions to retrieve her cell phone. She reappeared several minutes later, scrolling manically through a month long list of missed calls and past texts, her heart sinking a little when she found herself familiar with each one of them and not one of them was Danny's. She even went so far as to call him directly, the first time she had dialed his number in many months. Lacey cringed when she received the same computerized message Jo and Archie had warned her about.

"No, no..." she muttered to herself anxiously, "...This doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't he call me? He would call me."

Now it was Archie's turn to curse aloud. "Then that proves it," he said to Jo, "Something must have happened to him. You said that Danny was desperate to explain himself to Lacey. There's no way he'd change his number without, at least, letting Lacey know. He'd want her to be able to contact him when she was ready. We have to go to the police right now."

"Wait!" Lacey cried when they turned to leave, now as eager to have them stay as she had been to kick them out, "Are you really going to report Danny missing to the police on evidence as flimsy as that? I'm not saying there's no reason to be worried but what if his family denies it? You'll look like lunatics!"

Jo spun back to face her, incensed by the question. "So are we just supposed to stand around and do nothing?" she snapped, "Is that what you're suggesting?"

"I don't know really know what I'm suggesting right now, Jo," Lacey admitted helplessly, "But don't you think it's going to be a little strange when you go to report Danny missing to the police when his own family hasn't done so? The cops will never take you seriously!"

"They won't have any choice but to take me seriously after I tell them that Tara Desai pushed me down the stairs and made me lose my baby," Jo declared.

For the second time in a near ten minute interval Lacey found herself figuratively stumbling around in shock. "What? Are...are you kidding me?" she breathed, aghast, "Why would you tell them something like that?"

Archie answered on Jo's behalf when Jo appeared to emotional to speak. "Because it's true."

"Since when?" Lacey snorted incredulously.

"Since always," Jo bristled thickly, "Only I didn't remember what happened until everything started coming back to me a few days ago."

"Everything like what?" Lacey asked in a weary tone.

An unspoken nod of agreement passed between Jo and Archie before Jo addressed Lacey again. "Tara found out about the baby," she confessed softly, "She started blackmailing me shortly after I moved in with them. She wanted me to help her make inroads with Danny and, in exchange, she said she would keep the secret about my baby's paternity."

"You lying, selfish bitch," Lacey muttered in disgust, "How could you do that to Danny? Do you have any idea how much he trusted you?"

"I'm not proud of what I did to him," Jo replied with genuine contrition, "I was desperate and scared and I just wanted Danny to love me. So, I agreed to her terms. But Danny was very resistant to trusting her. It was like he believed she was pure evil."

"With good reason," Lacey snapped, "You have no idea what kind of hell that woman put him through!"

"I know..." Jo acknowledged in a humiliated whisper, "I know what I did was wrong. I'm not trying to make excuses for myself. I'm only telling you what happened and what I was thinking at the time." Lacey accepted that with a reproachful nod for Jo to continue. "Anyway," she began, "as time went on Tara started to get impatient with me because Danny wasn't coming to heel as quickly as she wanted him to. She blamed me for that. She kept threatening to tell Danny about the baby if I didn't get him to trust her.

"And then, just as I was thinking that things couldn't possibly get any worse," she continued, sparing a brief sideways glance filled with apology at Archie, "Archie showed up out of nowhere and confronted me too. I felt cornered and it didn't help that Danny called in the middle of all of that to tell me that he wanted a paternity test done. It was like everything was falling apart all at once." She leveled Lacey with a penetrating look. "I can only assume that _you_ put him up to that."

Lacey met her eyes without a shred of remorse. "Oh, poor little Jo, smothered under the weight of her own lies. My heart bleeds for you."

"I'm not blaming you," Jo maintained in a gruff tone, "I'm only trying to set the scene. It was an awful day. The point is," she further emphasized, "I was running out of options. I knew that I had no choice but to tell Danny the truth and when Tara came after me again I told her that. I told her that I would tell Danny everything about how she had been blackmailing me and how she intended to manipulate him out of his inheritance and that's when she pushed me."

"Are you sure?" Lacey pressed, her eyes narrowed in skepticism.

"I have no reason to lie about it."

Lacey scoffed. "You have every reason to lie and you do it as easily as you breathe."

"Are you saying that based on the here and now?" Jo asked her softly, "Or are you still living in the past, Suhad?"

Jo's unanticipated use of her past name had Lacey stiffening in surprise and suspicion. She bounced a cautious glance between Jo and Archie, her expression inscrutable when she said, "So I was right after all. You _did_ know the whole time. This was all some elaborate plan you both had to get back at Danny right from the beginning."

"No, it wasn't," Archie retorted angrily, "Jo and I had no clue about our past until after Danny was arrested! We're only _now_ beginning to understand just how deep our connection to him goes and we don't know why this is happening anymore than you do!"

Lacey said nothing in response to that but promptly asked, "Does Danny know?"

Jo confirmed with a short nod. "I told him when he was in the hospital."

"And? How did he take it?"

"He told me he wanted nothing to do with me and then cut me out of his life."

Lacey received a small bit of satisfaction with Jo's admission. "Good," she replied without a hint of sympathy, "It's a shame it took over three thousand years and two dead children before he finally wised up to you."

"No, it's _not_ good at all, Lacey, because this isn't about what happened between us back then!" Jo snapped, "It's not even about what's happening right now! It's about Danny and what _he_ needs! Don't you get that he has _no one_? Without me, Archie and you, he didn't have anyone to look out for him! He was alone and sick in the hospital and completely at Tara's mercy the whole time!"

"I think Danny's plenty capable of looking out for himself," Lacey muttered in a flash of bitterness though there was a part of her that was admittedly shaken by Jo's words.

Archie scowled at her, clearly pushed beyond his limited patience by Lacey's starchy attitude. "Didn't you hear what we just told you? Tara Desai is dangerous and she's crazy! She tried to _kill_ Jo! She's the reason our baby is dead! And now we know for sure that she's been targeting Danny this whole time! Have you even stopped to consider what she might do to him...what she might have already done?" Lacey shuddered at the consideration, far more aware of the evils of which Tara Desai was capable than they knew.

"I get that you're pissed off at him," Archie went on in a brusque tone, " _I'm_ pissed off at him too. I could write a book on all the issues between us! There's enough blame to go round and round but this isn't the time to hang onto our petty differences! Danny might be in real danger and he needs our help... _all of us_! We're not asking you to trust us, Lacey! We're asking you to _help_ us!"

Lacey vacillated for a few, tense moments before finally acquiescing. "He once told me he thought Tara might be the high priest Amun," she revealed hesitantly.

Jo groaned in consternation. "God help us if that's true. Amun wanted him dead."

"So did the both of you," Lacey reminded them flatly.

"We never wanted him dead!" Archie snapped, "We only wanted to be together! We wanted a better Egypt!"

"And you left him bleeding to death on a battlefield in order to get it!" Lacey spat back.

Archie flinched at the seething vehemence in her tone. "I can't change what I did back then," he said, "I can only tell you that I'm not that man anymore. Jo and I aren't out to take anything from Danny! We're not trying to kill him! But Tara, who might very well be Amun, _is_!"

Unable to argue with him further, Lacey dropped her shoulders forward in defeat and confessed somewhat reluctantly, "In the weeks before the accident, Danny and I were looking for proof that Tara was the one who orchestrated our abduction when we were in New York. Danny was adamant that she was behind the entire thing."

Jo and Archie traded a thoughtful look before Jo asked, "Why exactly would he think that?"

"Because we heard them talking. The guys who took us had been hired by a woman and they hadn't been paid to just kidnap Danny. They had been paid to kill him. The only reason that didn't happen was because one of the guys got too greedy which left Danny and me with an opening to escape."

"Oh god..." Jo breathed in gathering panic, "Oh god...this is so much worse than I first thought."

"Why? What are you thinking?" When another furtive glance passed between Archie and Jo following her question, Lacey could feel herself getting angry because she sensed that they were withholding information from her while, at the same time, expecting her to divulge everything. She glowered at Jo. "What's going on? Just tell me already!"

"Are you sure you want to hear this?" the blonde pressed, "It's not going to be easy to talk about."

Lacey crossed her arms defiantly. "What are you thinking?"

"The night of Danny's accident," Jo began carefully, "the night your sister was killed, do you know why that happened?"

"Yes, I know why it happened." Lacey answered gruffly, blinking back the tears that immediately sprang to her eyes with Clara's mention, "It happened because my sister was driving a high-powered vehicle she couldn't handle because Danny was too impaired to drive it himself. She lost control of the car and they flipped into oncoming traffic and she was killed. That's what happened."

Jo shook her head. "That's _not_ what happened," she whispered, "I overheard my parents talking about the details of the investigation into Danny's crash. They said that the police found that Danny's car barely had any brake fluid in it, like he had a leak or something and they were wondering if that could be a possible cause for the accident. Archie and I don't think that was a coincidence."

"What are you saying? You think that Tara tampered with Danny's car?" Lacey deduced in a shaky whisper, half in doubt, half in fear.

Archie dragged a shaky hand through his short, blonde hair and nodded in confirmation. "It's makes sense," he said, "Tara was responsible for having all the maintenance done on the vehicles in the house. If Danny's car didn't have enough brake fluid, it was because _she_ wanted it that way."

"No," Lacey grunted, struggling with the theory, "There are a million reason why Danny's car might have been low on brake fluid. That doesn't mean that Tara was setting him up for a car accident."

"I think that she was," Jo interjected quietly, "I think that she planned for his brakes to give out eventually and for Danny to be killed in a car wreck. And later, when it was revealed that he had drugs in his system, she knew that the cops would probably write off the whole thing as Danny being reckless and high. Then she would finally have everything she wanted and Danny would be out of the way for good."

"That's insane."

"She was already laying the groundwork to take everything he had," Jo insisted, "Who do you think has control of Danny's personal bank accounts and the shares in his grandfather's company now? Tara. His father handed over _everything_ to her! She was appointed as Danny's temporary executer right after his accident! She was trying to get Mr. Desai to declare him incompetent!"

"How do you know all of this?" Lacey asked suspiciously.

At that point, Archie spoke up as he realized that Jo was becoming increasingly more frazzled as the conversation wore on. "Mr. Desai told us," he said, "He said that, due to Danny's increasingly violent behavior and his drug use, he and Tara were taking steps to have Danny's shares in the company transferred over to his aunt."

"He said it was only supposed to be a temporary thing," Jo added once she had regained her composure, "That Tara would take control only long enough for Danny to recover from his accident and enter a drug treatment program but I know for a fact that Tara was never going to relinquish control to Danny whether he did 30 days or not."

Lacey had a difficult time buying into the idea of Jo being so altruistic which caused her skepticism to resurge anew. "And why would Mr. Desai tell you all of that?"

"Because he wanted us to testify on his behalf at Danny's competency hearing," Jo said, "He wanted us to tell the court that Danny was crazy so he could take Danny's inheritance."

"And what did you tell him?" Her tone suggested that she thought they would be only too eager to help Vikram Desai meet his goals. That fact didn't escape Jo's notice at all.

"We refused, of course!" she snapped, "God, Lacey! We love him too! You don't have the market cornered on that so get off your freaking high horse!"

"You love him? You have a funny way of showing it."

Jo pinned her with a reproving look. "So do you. _I'm_ not the one who abandoned him when he needed me the most." The girls squared off in a moment of embittered, accusing silence which was punctuated by centuries of mistrust and hatred before Archie stepped between them.

"Come on, ladies," he murmured, "This isn't helping. We need to focus on the issue here."

Lacey jerked a stiff nod. "Right. This is about finding Danny."

Following that acknowledgment, Jo resumed speaking. "So, around the same time Mr. Desai was asking for our help, I was starting to remember details about the day I fell. Not anything major but enough to know that Tara Desai was more involved than she had let on. I already knew that she couldn't be trusted so there was no way in hell I was going to help Mr. Desai give her everything that belonged to Danny, even _before_ I knew what she did to me!"

"I'm sorry but all of this sounds a little too 'conspiracy theory' to me," Lacey sighed, "If Mr. Desai wanted to have Danny declared incompetent then he had more than ample reason to do so, starting with the fact that Danny attacked him and then went on to attack Archie that same day! Danny _was_ becoming violent and unpredictable, not to mention the fact he was doing drugs again! Maybe Mr. Desai thought that he had no other choice."

"No, he wasn't, Lacey," Jo refuted softly, "Danny was not doing drugs again."

"Right. And next you'll be telling me that you think Tara drugged him too." Her sarcasm turned to incredulity when she realized that was _exactly_ what Jo believed. "You can't be serious," she uttered.

"Lacey, you didn't see his face when he found out his tox screen was positive," Jo said, "He was genuinely shocked and angry. He was adamant that some kind of mistake had to have been made!"

"He was playing you," Lacey declared but the denial sounded weak even to her. She didn't know if it was because she truly had doubts or because she was so desperate to believe anything other than Danny's unintentional involvement in her sister's death.

"He wasn't! I saw it in his eyes. He was telling the truth. He was devastated when he realized that was what you believed, that you were probably blaming him for your sister's death."

Lacey couldn't help but recall the last conversation she'd had with Danny and the anguish she had heard in his voice when he was begging her to listen. She shook off the memory with a shiver. "So you're telling me that you think the reason my sister is dead is because of Tara Desai?"

"Yes!"

"I can't believe that," Lacey maintained, shaking her head in fierce denial, "The night of the accident Danny was seen at a park where people go to score drugs. If he wasn't using then why was he there in the first place?"

"Ask yourself this instead," Jo countered softly, "If Danny _really_ bought drugs that night then why didn't the cops or EMS find anything on him when he was flown to the hospital? Why didn't they find any paraphernalia in his car or his pockets? There was _nothing_ , Lacey! Not even a joint! Does that make _any_ sense to you? Something else is going on here!"

While Lacey struggled within herself to find logical answers to those questions, Jo further drove home her point. "Lacey, think about it. You've become very close to Danny. You _know_ him," she said, "Think about those weeks with him before the accident. Did he seem secretive to you? Did you catch him in multiple lies? Was he sneaking off at all times of the day? Were there unaccounted for blocks of his time that he was hesitant to explain? Because that's how Danny always acted with Archie and me when he was using."

Lacey inventoried those days in her mind as Jo spoke, mentally answering in the negative to each question she asked. "No," she answered after a short lapse of silence, "He was erratic and volatile during that time but he wasn't secretive.

"When I asked him if he was still going to see you, he was honest with me about it even though he knew I'd be pissed," she recounted, "He made no secret of the fact that he was drinking as a way to cope. And when I accused him on being back on drugs, he was genuinely offended. We got into this huge fight afterwards and..." She trailed off into hiccupping sobs, remembering all too vividly how that night had ended. The picture came into complete focus for her then, leaving her with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

She doubled over as a wave of nausea rippled through her, stealing away her breath with the force of it. "Oh God...he tried to tell me," she wept, "He tried to tell me and I wouldn't listen to him."

Archie reached over to pat Lacey's shoulder awkwardly, commiserative but, at the same time, feeling ill equipped to handle her grief. "You weren't the only one. We were all eager to believe the worst of him."

Lacey wrapped her arms around her middle and began to rock back and forth as her mind began to race anxiously. "What if he's hurt right now?" she choked mournfully, "He knew she wanted to hurt him. He knew she was out for him all along? Wh...What if she did it? What if...what if he's dead?"

Jo flinched at the consideration but shook her head in firm denial. "I don't accept that. Archie and I are going straight to the police with everything we know about Tara, fact, speculation, all of it! She's involved in his disappearance up to her neck and they'll figure that out. They _have_ to figure it out."

Desperate to believe her, Lacey responded with a nod and then straightened slowly. "I'm going with you," she announced, reaching to pluck her jacket from a nearby coat rack, "I need to find out for myself if you're right about all of this."


	37. Chapter Thirty Six

**A/N - Readers, I need opinions. Since this story is complete and I have finished editing it, would you rather have the rest posted all at once or would you prefer one chapter per day? Let me know.**

* * *

 **Chapter Thirty Six**

Danny spent most of his days sleeping, which wasn't surprising because he was mentally and physically exhausted. Following his rejection of Tara, she had made good on her threat to him and had endeavored to have him transferred from Grassy Acres to an unknown psych facility that very night. She had falsely reported to the staff that Danny had threatened to kill her and claimed that the bruise that she'd received when he pushed her from the bed had actually resulted from _his_ attack on _her_ and not the other way around.

When staff arrived to investigate the allegations, Danny vehemently denied the charge and reluctantly recounted the story of how he had awakened to find Tara in his bed. The entire time he was speaking Tara screamed that he was a liar and then took it a step further by informing the staff that particular night had not been the first time he'd assaulted her. From there, matters had degenerated quickly and the authorities were called. In a panic, Danny retreated into his small bedroom and locked the door, even going so far as to barricade himself inside. He had been deathly terrified of what would happen to him should Tara prove successful in her plans before his grandparents arrived.

After fifteen minutes of an emotional standoff, the police finally arrived and were able, after another twenty minutes of negotiating, to coax a terrified Danny from his room. From there, Danny was given the choice to be taken to the police station or to the local hospital to receive an evaluation. At that particular moment, either option was welcome to Danny as long as he was able to get away from Tara. However, as a result of his health history, the decision was ultimately made to take him to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

Once they arrived there, Tara wasted no time writing a formal petition against him, reiterating her claims once more that Danny had attacked and threatened to kill her. He was then placed on a twenty four hour hold within the emergency department which prevented him from leaving the ER until he could be evaluated by the social worker on staff. Strangely, it was only at that point that Danny began to feel he was regaining some measure of control, as he was able to request that Tara be formally banned from his treatment room.

His nurse, a brusque, no-nonsense guy with burly shoulders and a perpetual scowl, seemed to have no problem putting Tara in her place and telling her, albeit in the most respectful way, to take a hike. He didn't so much as flinch when Tara began yelling at him and haughtily throwing around her last name as if that should be motivation enough to do her bidding. Instead, the nurse merely pointed her to the door. If Danny hadn't been so tired, he might have stood up and cheered. It was only when he didn't have the constant specter of his aunt lurking about that he was finally able to tell his version of what happened that night to the social worker and attending physician and he held nothing back.

Thankfully, neither Lacey nor Jo had been volunteering that night so he didn't have to deal with their added scrutiny. Danny didn't think he could have abided facing either one of them after what he had endured. He had never felt lower in his life and he certainly didn't want the two of the people who had hurt him the most to witness his shame. Danny went so far to express that concern to the his physician, who was quite familiar with Danny due to his previous visits. He reassured Danny that all of his treatment and even his visit altogether would not be discussed with anyone Danny had not approved. The assurance made it a little easier for Danny to breathe.

Following his physical and psychological evaluation, it was determined that, despite Tara's claims that Danny was a self-destructive narcissist with violent tendencies, Danny was actually clinically depressed and possibly suffering from PTSD besides being slightly underweight and anemic as well. It was the social worker's recommendation that he receive outpatient therapy and that he could be released from the hospital pending his grandparents arrival.

Several hours later, Cameron and Mimi Kincaid arrived to take their grandson home. The relief Danny felt as they wheeled him from the emergency room and past a stunned Tara could not be described. That first night they stayed in Green Grove at one of the local hotels due to the lateness of the hour. Neither Cameron nor Miriam had pushed Danny to reveal what exactly had compelled him call for their help. It had been evident from the full-fledged meltdown that Tara threw as they left the hospital with Danny in tow that it had been nothing good.

That night while Danny had lay in his temporary bed, his father called his cell phone again and again but Danny never answered a single call. He'd had a lifetime of listening to Vikram Desai make excuses for his twisted sister and now he was done. The next day, when he was on his way to New Haven, Connecticut with his grandparents the following morning, he discovered that the service to his phone had been abruptly cancelled. By that point, however, Danny was too emotionally exhausted to care.

His grandparents proved to be kind and benevolent people, assuming responsibility for his healthcare and personal well-being without hesitation. Danny hadn't known what to make of them in the beginning and he still didn't. They provided a private, live-in physical therapist to attend to his needs, a private suite of rooms for him to reside and unlimited access to their palatial, suburban home. They welcomed him into their family as if he had been a part of it all along. Not once had they questioned his worthiness or mentioned his past. They were more than willing to make an assessment of him based on their experiences alone and not hearsay.

In the meantime, they held nothing back from him. He hadn't been in their home a full day before they were eagerly introducing him to his uncle, his uncle's wife, various cousins and assorted extended family. The Kincaids, it seemed, had resided in Connecticut for generations and generations. The family was scattered in all corners of the state. They had come from very old money and even deeper traditions. Their lineage dated back as far as the 1800's. It was difficult for Danny to believe that he was connected to them in any way and yet it was a truth his grandparents never let him forget.

They boasted about him over family dinners, as if they had known him all along and pressed to know his interests, his experiences and anything and everything they could glean about his life. They were sincerely _interested_ in him. For Danny, the entire concept was foreign. He wasn't accustomed to family dinners where everyone laughed and joked about their day. He didn't know what to make of it when they asked about _his_ day. He had no idea how to react when he was given praise or encouragement or even shown affection. It was easy then for him to feel out of place in such a warm, close knit family, an aberration whose only link to them was shared DNA.

As a result of those feelings, Danny tended to shy away from their kindness. He declined his cousins invitations to social gatherings, avoided his uncle's attempts to spend time with him and avoided his grandparents' questions about his childhood. Danny spent most of his days sleeping, the only time he felt any relief from the constant awareness that he was an outsider in his grandparents' home. He didn't want to come off as antisocial or arrogant. Danny wanted to connect with his family. He just didn't know how. It felt like he was encased in a glass box, able to see everything going on around him but unable to _touch_ it. Thankfully, however, his grandmother seemed to discern the problem despite Danny's inability to talk about it and then sought to rectify it.

"Do you plan to hide out in your room the entire time you're here?" she asked him frankly on the fourth day after inviting herself inside his suite to pull open his curtains. "It's a lovely day outside. You should go out joy riding with your cousins or go to the mall or whatever it is you young people do these days." Danny emitted a lackluster grunt over those suggestions but Mimi was not deterred. "How about exploring the gardens then?" she suggested, "You could use some sun. I'll even go with you."

Danny burrowed his head deeper into his pillow. "Some other time," he mumbled, "I'm too tired."

Mimi perched herself on the edge of his bed and stared down at Danny with sympathetic eyes. "Is it _really_ that you're tired or are you hiding?" she murmured astutely.

He flipped over onto his back with a mildly disgruntled sigh. "Maybe it's both," he admitted, "I'm not so good around people these days."

"Nonsense. There isn't a single person who's met you who doesn't want to know you better, Danny. You only have to let them."

"I think if they really knew me they'd stop wanting to," he predicted glumly.

"Why would you say such a thing?"

"You don't really know me," he told her in a gruff tone as he shifted into an upright position, "I don't think I'm the person you think I am."

"Oh," Mimi whispered with a nod of understanding, "You're referring to your drug use and past run ins with the law, aren't you?" Danny glanced at her sharply, clearly astonished that she would know any of these things. Mimi grunted a laugh at his expression. "Come now, sweetheart, your grandfather and I haven't lived under a rock this whole time," she told him mildly, "Your name has been in the news a fair bit in the past few years. The media paints you as quite the bad boy."

Danny averted his eyes, his face darkening with shame. "You knew all of that and you asked me to come here anyway?"

Mimi frowned at him in concern. "What they say about you on the television is only half the story. Did you really expect that to matter to us?"

He answered with a noncommittal shrug. "You haven't been around in all of these years," he reasoned aloud to himself, "I guess I was trying to figure out what made you care all of a sudden."

"Danny, we've always cared about you." His expression must have registered a dubious note because she insisted rather vehemently a split second later, "It's true. Cameron and I have always, always wanted to be a part of your life, especially after Karen died."

He chanced a wary look at her then. "Then why did you never come around?" he demanded in an accusing whisper, "My dad said that you disowned my mother for marrying him because he was Indian, that you never approved of them being together based on that. He said that was the reason that you never acknowledged me."

"Is that what you believe?"

"I don't know what to believe anymore!" he exclaimed softly, "Nothing and no one in my life has been what or who I thought they were. I'm alone. I always used to think that when I was a kid but it never really felt that way until recently. I can only depend on myself."

His grandmother reached forward to cradle his face tenderly in her hands, her voice wavering with emotion when she told him, "You can depend on me. You can depend on your grandfather. We will not leave you, Danny."

Danny lightly shrugged off her hold, blinking back the tears that gathered in his eyes. "You already have," he reminded her in a tear roughened tone, "So please, don't make promises to me that you can't keep."

Mimi sat back to regard him with a resigned sigh. He presented a tough, unaffected facade, the belligerent expression on his face shouting that he did not need anyone. But his eyes...his eyes always betrayed him. Their liquid brown depths were stormy with confusion, hurt and, most of all, fear. Her heart contracted with pity for him but well beyond that Mimi wanted to divest him of the notion that he had been unwanted.

"Your father has misled you about a great many things, Danny," she said, "starting with his relationship with your mother. Their marriage wasn't some fairytale that ended in tragedy. Karen spent her last days feeling isolated, controlled and terrified in her own home.

"Yes, I disapproved of Karen's marriage to Vikram and your grandfather and I adamantly opposed their union but not out of spite or prejudice or whatever else Vikram might have told you. We feared for your mother and later, we feared for you. By the end, we wanted you _both_ out of that house."

"What do you mean?" Danny asked despite his firm resolve to remain aloof.

"Karen and Vikram only knew each other a short time before they married," Mimi explained, "Less than a month, in fact. They met when both of our families were vacationing in Saint Tropez during the same weekend. Karen was immediately taken with Vikram. Back then, he seemed like a charming, engaging, handsome young man interested in our daughter. We saw nothing from him that alarmed us in the beginning."

"So what happened?"

"Little things," Mimi told him, "He started criticizing Karen about the way she dressed or the way she spoke or the way she wore her hair. The longer they dated, the more he started to control everything she did. He started picking out her makeup and clothing, even going so far as to choose friends for her. It was ridiculous!"

"And my mom just let him do all of that?"

"Your mother was blind with infatuation for him," Mimi sighed, "You're a lot like she was. Karen had a wild spirit and she had made a lot of poor choices in her younger days. She thought Vikram was helping her to become a better person. She couldn't see that he was trapping her. None of us did."

"So my father was able to convince her to marry him," Danny concluded sadly. He knew full well how compelling and convincing Vikram Desai could be, having fallen victim to his old man's will, even against his better judgment, time and time again.

"He convinced her to marry him," Mimi replied with a rueful nod, "They barely knew one another and then suddenly she was moving off to some little town in New York that we had never heard of to start a life with a man we didn't know or like very much."

"But she seemed happy in the beginning?" he pressed, "Right?"

"Of course she did. It was new, young love. But I saw the warning signs and I was concerned. I foolishly thought that if I contacted Aravinda Desai he would have the same concerns about how fast they were moving and would help me to talk some sense into our children."

"Let me guess. He didn't care at all."

"Quite the contrary, he was adamant that Vikram and Karen stay together. He was the one who encouraged them to get married. He wouldn't hear any talk of splitting up at all. He thought that their need to be together was 'romantic,' he said."

"My grandfather?" Danny balked, "Every story I've ever heard about him makes him sound like he was a mean son of a bitch." He cringed in apology at his coarse language and quickly amended, "I meant...um...a mean bastard."

Mimi's lips twitched in amusement. "Not much better but still an appropriate description of the man," she said, "He was a manipulative, calculating devil! He wanted to use Vikram and Karen's union to make inroads into our business holdings! To him, their marriage was nothing more than a merger."

"You think my dad was using her."

"I _know_ he was using her. But when I tried to tell Karen that, she was adamant that I was wrong about all of it and that Vikram loved her. The more we tried to convince her to leave him and come home to us, the further she pulled away from us. By the time she eloped with Vikram, our relationship with Karen was already severely strained."

"So you disowned her?"

"No!" Mimi denied, "Quite the opposite. The marriage was done. Cameron and I had no choice but to accept Vikram for Karen's sake. So we did. We wanted to maintain a relationship with our daughter, especially after we learned she was pregnant with you."

"What happened after they got married?"

"In the beginning, Karen and I didn't speak very much because she was still too angry with us," Mimi recounted, "But after about six months, she started calling us again and right away I could tell how disillusioned she was. She said that Aravinda Desai had a stranglehold on his family and that they both hated and feared him. He proved to be even more controlling than his son and stopped allowing Karen to go out at all unless she was accompanied by Vikram, himself or his daughter Tara."

"My aunt Tara hated my mom," Danny confided, "She never made a secret of it."

"She didn't make a secret of it to Karen either. Karen often said she felt like she was living in a den of cannibalistic jackals."

"Sounds about right," Danny muttered.

"Karen reached her breaking point when she learned of her second pregnancy," Mimi said, "She was determined to get out of there. We had to make secret arrangements to get her back home because Aravinda was always so demanding about where and when we saw her. He would often make offhand comments about relocating back to India to 'gain peace for his family.'

"We were always so terrified that he would leave the country with you and your mother that we often yielded to whatever demands he had as long as we could see you and Karen."

"But you said that she was going to leave my dad."

Mimi nodded. "She was. She wanted to wait until after your birthday party and then she was going to run. She said she was determined not to raise her children in that house."

"Only she died before she could leave," he finished grimly, saying aloud what Mimi had left unspoken.

Her expression became haunted as she jerked a quick nod. "Yes, she died a few days before you were set to turn two. Her funeral was the last time Cameron and I had any contact with you. Vikram filed a court order against us claiming that we had been opposed to his marriage due to his Indian heritage. He claimed that he didn't want us influencing you with our hate. In the court's eyes he was a grieving father who was trying to protect his son. They granted his petition and we never saw you again."

"But none of that was true, right?" Danny asked tentatively, "You didn't disapprove of my father because he was Indian, did you?"

Mimi covered his hand with a reassuring smile, sensing without explanation that Danny's question had been born out of his fear of her rejection. "No. Not at all. We disapproved of Vikram because he was a controlling, manipulative liar, just like his father. He used my daughter to gain her fortune and then kept her a virtual prisoner the last three years of her life."

After everything Mimi had revealed to him, Danny had very little difficulty relating to his mother and the miserable existence she must have led in those last three years. Vikram hadn't controlled Danny quite to the extent he had his late wife but he had imposed his will on his son numerous times, especially where it concerned Tara. He had been forced to endure her presence every day of his life and then was daily told how wrong he was when he was anything less than appreciative for it.

He regarded his grandmother with a softened expression, grateful for the new understanding she had given him of his mother. Danny had no doubts that he could ask her anything about Karen and she would provide him with answers to the best of her knowledge. Therefore, he asked her the one question that he had wondered about his entire life, the one that no one had ever answered for him.

"How did she die?"

Mimi startled with surprise at the question, her pale, blonde brows drawing together in a frown. "You mean no one ever told you?"

Danny shook his head. He had once found an article about his mother's death on the internet when he was Googling her some years before. Other than mentioning that Karen Desai had died tragically while she was pregnant with her second child and that her lifeless body was later found by her sister-in-law, there hadn't been a great many details about what would cause a perfectly healthy woman in her early twenties to die suddenly. His grandmother provided the answer.

"Anaphylactic shock," she told him hoarsely, "Your mother had a peanut allergy. She died with her Epipen within ten feet of her reach."

He struggled to digest that revelation because it had been the last thing he was expecting to hear. "You're telling me my mother died from a _peanut allergy_?"

"It seems ridiculous, doesn't it?" Mimi grated bitterly, "And so oddly timed..."

She wisely refrained from sharing with Danny that she and Cameron had suspected for many years that Karen's death had been deliberate. That she should die on the eve of her plans to leave Vikram and ultimately divorce him seemed much too convenient. Besides that, their daughter had always taken great care with her diet as a result of her severe allergy and she was almost religious about what she ate. She had also always been careful to keep her rescue medication near her person at all times in case of an emergency. The thought that she would have inadvertently exposed herself to the allergen was ludicrous enough but the idea that she had been without her medicine as well...that seemed almost premeditated. Karen Kincaid Desai's death had been ruled officially an accident by the coroner but the Kincaid family had never believed it was anything less than cold-blooded murder.

Danny however, Mimi determined, was not ready to hear such things. He was still reeling from the truths he had learned within the last hour as well as his aunt's recent attempt to have him committed to a psych facility. He was also recovering from a very serious car accident that had involved one fatality and had very nearly cost him his own life in the process. He didn't need the added stress of knowing his father might very well have murdered his mother to keep her from leaving with his children. Danny didn't need to bear the burden of that at all. From Mimi's perspective, her young grandson had already been through more than enough in his short lifetime. As far as it depended upon her, she was going to spare him further pain.

"I want you to know something," she whispered as Danny continued to wrestle with processing all she had told him, "Your grandfather and I have always wanted you. We filed petition after petition to be granted custody of you. We never stopped fighting to have that court injunction barring contact with you overturned. We have never, _never_ given up on you."

"Dad said that you didn't want me," Danny recounted thickly, "He said you would think I was too much of a troublemaker and would never accept me into your family. I believed him. I believed him my whole life."

"He lied to you." She gave him time to let that irrefutable truth sink in before she reached for his hand. "Come with me," she urged softly, "I want to show you something."

Despite his longsuffering groan, Danny allowed her to tug him from the bed. As he situated his walker to bear his weight, he whined, "Where are we going? You're not about to take me on some kind of spiritual hike, are you, because it's too early in the day for that."

"Stop your bellyaching," Mimi admonished him playfully, "and follow me."

She led him out of his room and down the corridor towards an unoccupied suite at the far end of the hallway. Mimi had explained on the first day of Danny's arrival that the room had once belonged to his mother. It seemed unspoken that the area was off limits so Danny was quite stunned when Mimi not only led him there but invited him to go inside and explore.

Danny prepared himself to find some untouched shrine dedicated to his dead mother's memory but instead he discovered what reminded him of a child's playroom. The space was brimming with toys and boxes upon boxes of unopened presents. He pivoted around in a slow shuffle as he took it all in with a low whistle of astonishment.

"Whoa...this is not what I was expecting," he told his grandmother, "You have Toys'R'Us up here." He turned to regard her quizzically. "What is all of this?"

"This is every birthday present, every 'I love you' gift, every milestone reward that your grandfather and I have purchased for you in the last nineteen years. It's not all children's toys though," she explained, "There are electronic devices and gaming systems and all kinds of things we knew a teenage boy would enjoy in here."

"Why?"

"Because we love you," she said, "Because we knew that one day we would see you again and, when we did, we wanted you to know that we never forgot about you. We never gave up hope that one day we would be together again. It was that hope that carried me through Karen's death. I would have _never_ survived without it."

The rough emotion brimming in her voiced filled Danny with a baffling sense of guilt and he had a difficult time meeting her eyes right then. "I don't understand how you can look at me and not be reminded of my father," he told her, "and how he ruined your daughter's life."

"I look at you and I see Karen. You're the best part of her."

"I don't know about that," Danny mumbled self-deprecatingly.

Mimi smiled at him fondly. "I do."

Feeling himself being pushed dangerously close to tears and filled with determination not to shed them, Danny anxiously darted his eyes about the room for something to distract him from the heavy emotion burning in his chest right then. Salvation came in the form of a Lego pirate ship set. Danny lurched forward to sweep up the box with a wry smile.

"I had one of these when I was a kid," he remarked softly, adding before Mimi's eyes could cloud with disappointment, "I never had anyone to build it with me though. Jo was never much into Legos."

"Jo?"

"My best friend," Danny replied automatically only to amend the statement an instant later, "At least, she _used_ to be my best friend." He set the box back down as his smile faded. "That's done now."

"Was she the pretty little blonde who used to sit with you while you were in the hospital?" Mimi wondered curiously.

Danny bobbed a short nod. "Yeah. She's the one."

"You two had a falling out? That's a shame. She seemed rather devoted to you."

 _Yeah well, looks can be deceiving_ , Danny thought to himself but he said aloud, "It's a long story."

Sensing the pain in his tone, Mimi offered herself as a confidante. "I'm a good listener," she said.

He shook his head at her implicit invitation. "Some other time maybe." After that, he turned his attention back to the Lego box, recalling all the hours he had spent on his own trying to piece that ship together after fruitlessly begging Jo to help him. It had been impossible to convince her to do something she didn't want to do. That was the reason her lie had hurt him so badly, because no one had forced her to manipulate him. On some level Jo had _wanted_ to deceive him.

"Would you like to give it a try?"

Mimi's question abruptly cut through Danny's brooding reverie, startling him back into the present. He offered his grandmother an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, Mimi. What did you say?"

"I was asking if you would like to put that ship together."

Danny's eyes widened comically at the offer. "With you?"

"Of course with me," Mimi chuckled, "Unless you think you're too old for this sort of thing."

A slow smile spread across Danny's features, making him appear in that instance like a boy of nine rather than a man of nineteen. "You're on."

An hour later, Danny and Mimi were still sitting on the floor with a completed Lego pirate ship between them while they laughed and joked and engaged in a childish game of pretend little Lego men. That was the scene Cameron Kincaid discovered, when he poked his head into his daughter's old room and found his wife and grandson doing the most awful pirate imitations he had ever heard. He chuckled at the picture they made.

"Is this a private party or can anybody join?" he joked.

Without hesitation, Danny beckoned his grandfather forth to join their silly game of make believe. It was only in that moment when Danny was sitting there with his giggling grandparents that he fully understood for the first time in his entire life what it meant to have a family. Reactive tears sprang to his eyes with the realization, breaking open the sorrow and emptiness that had resided inside him for a lifetime. The sobs burst forth from his chest without warning, stunning his concerned grandparents into silence. He tried to stifle them with his fist but was helpless against the uncontrollable emotion that had suddenly overwhelmed him. The sudden breakdown was frightening to him and unstoppable.

"I-I'm s-sorry..." he wept helplessly, "I...I d-don't...know wh-why...I don't..."

"It's okay, sweetheart," Mimi soothed as she and Cameron moved to take their weeping grandson into their arms, "Let it all out, Danny. You're home now. You're safe."


	38. Chapter Thirty Seven

**Chapter Thirty Seven**

When Danny stepped inside the living room after his morning walk and first attempt at using a walking cane, he discovered his grandparents sitting with two men dressed in rather inexpensive suits. The scene naturally filled him with nervous apprehension. He had been arrested enough times to be able to spot a cop on sight. It was something in their body language, their seeming inability to relax even when in a relaxed setting. He couldn't imagine that their presence in his grandparents home signaled anything good either which left him ticking through a mental list of what he possibly could have done to bring them there.

His rising panic must have read plainly on his face because Mimi quickly sought to diffuse the situation by making introductions, as if she was acquainting him with the members of her bridge club. "Danny, this is Detective Hollister and this is Detective Grant," she said, pointing to each officer as she introduced them, "These men are here to see you."

"Am I under arrest?" he asked bluntly.

His grandmother trilled a nervous laugh before the officers could answer. "Now Danny, don't be silly."

However, Danny continued to maintain unwavering eye contact with Detective Hollister and asked again, "Am I?"

Hollister regarded him with an impassive stare, betraying nothing. "Have you done something to warrant an arrest?"

Danny shrugged, belying the fear constricting his chest right then. "With me you never know."

Unbelievably, the detective smiled at that, his austere demeanor fading entirely. "We're not here to arrest you, Mr. Desai," he said, "We're here to make sure you're safe."

"Why would you need to make sure I'm safe?" Danny wondered quizzically.

At that point, Detective Grant spoke up. "It seems a few friends of yours reported you missing to Green Grove PD," he explained, "They seemed pretty adamant that your aunt had harmed you in some way and had possibly disposed of your body. They wanted her arrested."

"Wh-What?" Danny sputtered incredulously.

"Your aunt, of course, denied those accusations and said you were just fine and living here in Connecticut with your grandparents," Grant went on to explain, "But your friends weren't satisfied with that explanation and went on to file the missing persons report anyway."

"I have a good friend on the force in Green Grove," Detective Hollister interjected, "Since your aunt said that your grandparents lived in the area, he asked me as a personal favor to swing by here to confirm your aunt's story. I'll just need your i.d. so we can verify that you really are who you say you are and then we can put this whole sorry business to rest."

Seeing that Danny was clearly too stunned to react, Mimi nudged her husband. "Cam, run upstairs and get Danny's wallet for him."

As his grandfather set off to complete that task, Danny called after him absently, "Thanks. It's on my dresser." He turned his attention back to the detectives then, his thoughts still muddled with their explanation. "You said my 'friends' reported me missing," he reiterated blankly, "What friends?" He could count on one hand the number of people who would have cared enough to report him missing and he seriously doubted any of them were involved.

Detective Hollister consulted the notes he had jotted down earlier. "Um...let's see here. Jo Marie Masterson, Archibald Yates and Lacey Porter. They filed the report a little over a week ago."

"Lacey Porter?" Danny echoed incredulously, "Are you sure _Lacey_ was involved?"

"That's what I was told in the brief report I was given," Hollister replied.

Danny was about to launch his own interrogation for every minute detail he could glean when his grandfather returned with his wallet in hand. Cam passed Danny's retrieved driver's license to Hollister with an affable smile. "As you can see, Detective, my grandson is who we say he is."

Hollister studied the picture i.d. carefully and then Danny's face and then the picture again, assuring himself that he had a match. When he was done, he returned it to Danny. "And you're sure that you're here of your own free will?" he asked Danny, "No one is forcing you to be here? I doubt it but, given the circumstances, I have to ask."

"No," Danny murmured, "I'm here because I want to be."

"Good," Hollister said, "I'll let my buddy know and we can put this whole misunderstanding to rest."

Danny blinked at him. "So that's it?"

"That's it," Hollister said, "Except that you might want to call your friends and give them a heads up that you're alive. Seems like they're pretty worried about you."

After accepting that advice with a polite nod, Danny walked the detectives to the door and politely saw them out. Once they were gone, he continued to stare in the wake, still dumbfounded by the knowledge that _Lacey_ had filed a missing persons report on his behalf. Based on their last interchange, Danny hadn't imagined she would have cared if he lived or died. The fact that she seemed to be working in partnership with Jo and Archie just made the situation all the more bizarre. He might have stood there indefinitely trying to puzzle the entire thing out if his grandparents hadn't chosen to join him.

The instant he turned to face them, his grandmother asked without preamble, "Who is Lacey Porter?"

Danny repressed the urge to groan, not at all surprised that she had honed in on his reaction to Lacey's name. "Really, Mimi?"

In contrast, his grandfather's next question was much more practical and yet no easier to answer. "I'm more concerned with why your friends seem to think Tara would want to kill you," Cam remarked softly, "Would you mind explaining that to us, Danny?"

Mimi laid a gently quelling hand against his arm, her expression anxious when she admonished, "Cameron, don't. We agreed that we wouldn't push him to talk about anything that happened before."

"I don't want to make him do anything he doesn't want to do, Mimi," Cam answered while looking directly at Danny, "But I need to know if he's being threatened so that I can keep him safe."

Touched by his grandparents concerned but finding it a little needless as well, Danny expelled a weary sigh. "I don't want you to worry," he told them, "Tara hasn't made any attempt to contact me since I came here." Mimi appeared uneasy at that statement, which immediately raised Danny's suspicions. "She hasn't, has she?" he pressed warily.

"She called this morning," his grandmother confessed, "I can't really tell you what she wanted because she spent the entire conversation ranting at me. She kept demanding to speak to you and accused you of trying to ruin her. She said that she was scheduling an emergency board meeting for tomorrow morning to have you removed as majority shareholder in Desai Corp."

Danny absorbed that news with little more than a casual shrug. "Good," he replied as he began limping towards the dining room for breakfast, "She'll finally have what she always wanted. Maybe now she'll leave me alone."

Cam frowned as he and Mimi trailed after him. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean my grandfather's company. It's mine. Or, at least, it was _supposed_ to be mine once I turned 21 years old. Tara has hated me my entire life because of something I never asked for to begin with," he explained, "Now that she has what she wants, I'll finally have some peace."

If he thought that clarification would satisfy them, Danny was mistaken. He approached the sideboard to prepare himself a plate of fruit and discovered that they were still dogging his every step. His grandfather, in particular, regarded him with penetrating scrutiny. He returned their intense perusal with a blank stare. "What? Why are you staring at me like that?"

His grandfather cleared his throat. "We just informed you that Tara has every intention of stealing your inheritance and all you did was shrug."

Danny lowered his eyes and absently played with the embroidered edge of the runner that lay across the sideboard. "What else am I supposed to do?" he asked, "Tara is my court appointed trustee! She can do what she wants!"

"Not if we fight her on it," Cam argued belligerently.

Before he had even finished the statement, however, Danny was wildly shaking his head. "No. I don't want to antagonize her," he said, "You have no idea what's it's been like all of these years to live with her and all because she wanted that damned company. Well, she can have it! I don't care anymore. I just want her to leave me alone!"

Mimi reached over to cover his hand with her own, stilling his nervous fidgeting. "Sweetheart, tell us what she did to you," she urged gently.

He looked away, his throat closing a little when he said, "Nothing. She didn't do anything." It was clear that neither of them believed him, however, but Danny was too psychologically raw to lie to them convincingly at that moment so he merely pleaded, "Can we drop it, please?"

With great reluctance, his grandparents complied with his request but Cam couldn't quite stop himself from adding, "I still think you should attend that board meeting. I will come with you if you need moral support. You can't simply allow Tara to take what is yours."

"Why does it matter? I know you guys don't know me very well but you should know that I'm a perpetual screw-up. I'm almost twenty years old and I've never done a single, worthwhile thing with my life! I don't have anything to offer that company."

"How do you know until you challenge yourself to do it?" Cam asked.

Danny considered his argument for a brief, fanciful instant but then shook his head firmly. "No."

"Well, at least, contact a lawyer," his grandfather advised, "You can contest Aravinda Desai's will and seek to gain emergency control of your inheritance. Tara doesn't get to terrorize you _and_ direct how to spend your money as well."

"Would it make you feel better?" Danny sighed tiredly.

"Minimally," Cam grumbled, which earned him a warning poke from his wife. "Alright. Alright," he relented, "I'll stop pushing you about it. _For now_."

Danny tried not to roll his eyes as he turned his attention back to making his breakfast plate. He was surprised when his grandparents followed suit and joined him at the table. He darted a wary glance between them both. "Haven't you guys eaten already?" he asked around a mouthful of melon.

They smiled at him benevolently while sipping on coffee. "We thought we would keep you company," Mimi chirped sweetly.

"Why?" Danny asked with a slight frown, finding the concept a little foreign. In his lifetime breakfast had served two purposes, sustenance and daily reminders of everything he was doing wrong...that is when he wasn't eating it alone which, most of the time, he had been.

"To talk, of course," she laughed, "How did you enjoy your walk this morning?"

"It was fine."

"And your therapy," his grandfather piped in, "How's that going? Mimi and I noticed you were using the cane today. That's fine progress, I think."

"It's going well...the same as it was when you asked me _yesterday_ ," he stressed.

His grandmother favored him with a quizzical smile. "You're not much of a talker, are you?"

Danny thought about that for a moment, realizing that no one had never asked him that before. "Uh...no," he decided, "I guess not. People don't usually ask me about my day."

His grandfather's eyebrows shot up at that admission. "Really?"

"Well...my ex-girlfriend sometimes," he corrected quickly, "And Lepa. It just wasn't a thing around the dining room table, you know?"

"Who's Lepa?" "What ex-girlfriend?" both Cam and Mimi asked simultaneously. Danny decided to tackle the easier question.

"Lepa is our housekeeper. I kind of think of her like a surrogate grandmother." _Or, at least, I used to_ , he amended in his heart. It was a little difficult to maintain the same level of fondness for a person when you suspected them of poisoning you.

"And your ex-girlfriend," Mimi pressed him when Danny drifted into silence, "Who is that? Could she be this Lacey you seemed to react so strongly about?"

"Is this what normal families typically do with their time?" Danny wondered, "Just sit around and pry into each other's lives all day? It's weird."

His grandparents laughed at his disgruntled observation. "Well, get used to it," Mimi warned him with a smile, "We plan to have a welcome home party for you this weekend and the questions are going to be non-stop."

"Your cousins are eager to spend some time with you," Cam told him, "Not to mention your Uncle Chase. My brother and his kids and grandkids will be here too. Everyone is excited to meet you."

The more he spoke, however, the more Danny looked like he wanted to bolt from the room. Mimi wisely intervened before Cam could overwhelm their skittish grandson completely with his enthusiasm. "It will be just a small family gathering," she reassured him, "You can even invite your friends if you want."

Danny shook his head at the suggestion. "I doubt they would want to come."

"Really?" Mimi replied in surprise, "I think that they would probably be happy and relieved to see you." She smiled at him wistfully. "You should get a haircut for the party. I think that would be nice. You have too sweet a face to be constantly hiding it behind all of that hair."

That suggestion caused Danny to freeze mid-bite. "Why? What's wrong with my hair?"

"Danny, you're starting to resemble a scruffy mountain man," his grandmother said like she thought that fact should have been obvious to him, "Don't you want to look your best when your friends arrive?"

He was searching for the most polite way to tell his grandmother that he didn't particularly give a damn when his grandfather said, "Speaking of which of your friends...you might want to call them now and let them know you're alive."

"Right now?" Danny balked, "But I'm eating."

Mimi recognized a stall tactic when she heard one. "No, you're not. You're picking and you're avoiding," she said, "Go call your friends. You can use the phone in the den if you need privacy."

Danny grumbled the entire way, as enthused about the prospect of making that phone call as someone facing the guillotine. It wasn't that he didn't _want_ to talk to them. On the most basic level, he did. After the events of the past week, most of the resentment and anger he felt towards Jo and Archie had mostly faded. The pain they had caused with their lie still remained with him but Danny didn't want to dwell on it any longer.

And Lacey...he missed Lacey. He wanted to know how she was fairing and if she had started to get a handle on her grief. There wasn't a day that went by that he didn't think about her. But as much as he wanted to hear her voice again he was just as afraid for her to hear his. He couldn't imagine that she would ever be able to disassociate him from the death of her sister. Which, given the shady circumstances of his car accident, Danny wouldn't entirely blame her. He was having a difficult time disassociating himself.

He had no proof that Tara had tampered with his car, just as he had no proof that she had him abducted or had poisoned him but he knew in his gut that it was true. Tara had wanted him dead and Clara had been inadvertently caught in the crossfire. Danny would bear that burden of guilt for the rest of his life. But when he thought about how easily it could have been Lacey, how simply being involved with him could have ended in her death _again_ , Danny had no doubts that she was better off without him. She had been absolutely right when she had said that loving him was a curse. He had failed to protect her in that first lifetime. Danny was determined not to make the same mistake again.

It was with that mindset that Danny picked up the phone. He would reassure her that he was okay and then end the call. He wouldn't allow himself to indulge in a long, drawn out emotional exchange. He wouldn't allow the conversation to become personal at all. He would keep it brief and to the point. In the long run, Danny knew that would be the best thing for them both.

With that firm resolve, Danny inhaled a deep, fortifying breath and dialed Lacey's cell. The phone didn't even complete a full ring before Lacey's frantic voice exploded in his ear. "Danny?" she cried, her tone filled with fretful hope, "Danny, is that you?"

He thought he was prepared to hear her voice again but, when he did, Danny found that his throat immediately burned with thick emotion and he stumbled over his words. "Uh y-yeah...yeah. It's me."

"Oh, thank you, God. Thank you, God!" she muttered over and over again, "You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice! I thought something horrible had happened to you! I've been going out of my mind about it!"

"I'm fine," he told her inanely, "I'm just fine."

His reply seemed to open a floodgate because Lacey immediately began firing questions at him, barely giving him time to answer one before she was answering another. "Where the hell have you been? Why didn't you call me? You just disappeared off the freaking face of the earth! Did you know that your cell phone has been canceled? What happened to you? Where did you go? _Why_ did you go? Are you okay? Tara didn't have you taken again, did she? You're not hurt, are you? What the hell is going on?"

"Lacey, Lacey, Lacey," he soothed when it was able to get a word in edgewise, "Calm down. Breathe. Everything is fine. I wasn't kidnapped. I'm not hurt. I've been with my grandparents this whole time."

"Your grandparents?" she echoed incredulously, "So that's actually true? We thought Tara was lying through her teeth."

"Yeah. It's true. And what do you mean by 'we?'"

"Hold on a minute," she said abruptly, seemingly distracted by something going on in the background. Danny waited patiently for her to finish, mentally preparing his planned speech for wrapping up the conversation when she said, "I'm going to put you on speakerphone."

Danny gaped. "Wait. You're gonna wh-?"

He hadn't even finished the question before Archie and Jo's voices sounded out to him. "Hey, Danny," they said in unison with Jo adding with her own share of incredulity, "You're really staying with your grandparents now? Since when did that happen?"

"I didn't even know you were that close to them," Archie murmured in consideration, "I thought you said they were bigots."

Now it was Danny's turn to be confused. He shook his head slightly, feeling for a second as if he might be having auditory hallucinations. "Wait...what? Archie? Jo? Is that you? What are you guys doing with Lacey? What is this? Since when do you hang out?"

"We're not hanging out," Lacey clarified, "We've been commiserating with each other because we thought you might be dead. It's a long story."

"You've been _commiserating_ with each other?"

"Yeah, we have!" Archie stressed, "Look, that's not really important right now, Danny. I know we have our issues between us, dude, but I don't want you dead."

Danny frowned that the phone. "You don't?"

"That was almost four thousand years ago, Danny," Archie grunted, "You gotta let it go. And, for the record, you're the one who killed _me_ so it's really _me_ who should be holding the grudge, you know?"

"But _you_ left him for dead," Lacey reminded him tartly, "Let's not forget that part."

Jo threw in her two cents at that point by arguing, "Still not the same thing, Lacey. Bleeding on the battlefield versus knife in the gut. We're comparing apples and oranges here."

Lacey grunted. "You _would_ defend him, wouldn't you?"

"This is weird," Danny muttered to himself, "This entire conversation is weird."

Jo spoke again next and what she said did nothing to lessen the weirdness factor for Danny. "Okay, so I realize that we all have a lot of ugly history between us and a lot of unresolved issues," she acknowledged, "But that's just what it is. It's history. I think we should deal with what's going on presently and judge each other according to that."

"None of this matters anyway, Jo," Danny sighed wearily, "because I already made it clear to you where I stand on that."

"I think that's your anger talking. Do you really want to flush over decade of friendship down the tubes because I screwed up, Danny?" she asked him softly, "How many times have you screwed up and I've forgiven you? Be fair."

" _You're_ the one who's not being fair," he said, "Yeah, I know I've messed up before but... You _lied_ to me, Jo. It hurts."

"I know. And I'm sorry. I'm sorrier than I can say but I'm not perfect. Sometimes I make bad choices too. Sometimes I screw up too. But don't I also get a chance to be forgiven? I don't want it to be like this with us. I get it if you can't trust me right now, Danny. I'm just asking for the chance to earn it back."

Danny could practically imagine the skeptical expression on Lacey's face right then. He was half expecting Lacey to interject and state how that was _never_ going to happen in a million years but he almost fell onto his ass when she said instead, "I think you should give her a chance to explain herself."

"WHAT? What are you saying? Who are you?"

"I know it seems like I've done a 180 here but listen to me, Danny," Lacey implored, "Jo, Archie and I have had some very long conversations with each other while you've been missing. You were right when you said that I was holding a lot of the past against them. I know that some, not all but _some_ of my mistrust was based on that.

"In a weird way, when you went missing I was able to gain some perspective on a lot of things," she continued, "It's complicated but I know that they care about you too. This experience has almost...I guess...bonded us a little. I'm not saying that we're best friends now or that I completely trust them or anything just that maybe they deserve a chance to prove themselves."

"I'm in bizarro world," Danny mumbled, "I don't even know what's happening right now." His plans for a brief conversation promptly fizzled into nothing. "This is...nuts."

Archie only worsened that feeling of surrealism when he added, "We should get together and talk. About the past. About the present. About everything. There's a lot that has happened since you've been gone and we need to sit down and strategize what we should do next."

"We? Since when is there a 'we?' What are you talking about?"

"It's not something we want to discuss over the phone," Jo said, "When are you coming back home to Green Grove?"

"I'm not." He wasn't quite prepared for Lacey's strident response to that.

"What do you mean you're not coming home? Why?"

"I live with my grandparents now," he clarified softly, "I'm not coming back. This is my home."

Lacey emitted a small scoffing sound. "You're kidding."

"Not even a little."

"That's...that's crazy! You don't even know these people! And, from what Archie told me, that's not an environment you want to be in!"

"They're not like that. They're nothing like I thought. They've been good to me."

Archie cleared his throat in discomfort, hoping to diffuse the crackling tension that suddenly exploded into existence. "So...uh...where exactly is this new home of yours?"

"New Haven, Connecticut."

"What?" Lacey squeaked. "You're in freaking _Connecticut_ right now?"

Danny found himself frowning at the phone in disbelief yet again, unable to process her volatile reaction. "Yeah. That's where I live now."

"What are you talking about?" Lacey cried, "You don't live in Connecticut! Your home is here! Your _life_ is here! You can't just decide to live in another state just like that! You're living with complete strangers, Danny!"

"Which is so different from what exactly?" he retorted shortly, "My grandparents are good people. They've been kind and generous to me. I owe them a lot."

"But...but what about what you've left behind here?" Lacey asked in a small whisper, "What about us?"

Danny's heart leapt into his throat at the question which both surprised and confused him. After all, she had made it fairly clear that she was done with him and Danny wasn't in disagreement at all that she should be. "What about us, Lacey?" he countered.

"I...I know what I said to you before," she stammered, careful to keep her words cryptic due to their audience, "Some really awful things but...I was in a really bad place back then about Clara and about you and I-,"

"It doesn't matter why you said it," he interrupted softly, "You were absolutely right...about all of it. What happened to your sister was...horrible and I will never be able to tell you how sorry I am for that. I want you to know-,"

"-Danny, I know that wasn't your fault," she rushed out.

"No, it _was_ my fault," he insisted hoarsely, "and that's why I think you did the right thing. I don't think we should try to change anything, Lacey."

"You don't really mean that."

"Yeah, I do." Danny managed a rough swallow before whispering, "I want things to stay like they are. I don't want to come back to Green Grove. I'm done with everything there." Even though he didn't state it outright everyone involved in that conversation knew he meant that he wanted his breakup with Lacey to stand, that, ultimately, he didn't want to see her again.

She didn't make a sound for a long time and, for a minute he thought she had walked away but then she whispered, "Jo told me that you think Clara might have been Lagus. Is that true? Do...do you really believe that?"

"I don't know," he murmured, "I have dreams about her and about him and sometimes it feels like they might have been the same person. They were both pretty good at saving me from myself, that's for sure."

"Danny, if that's true, do you really think it's a coincidence that someone you loved so much would end up being someone I loved so much too?" Lacey argued quietly, "You and I are connected in ways I don't think either of us fully understands. We need each other. We make each other stronger. I see that now."

"That's not what I want, Lacey. We can't be anything to each other now. Not anymore. I'm sorry."

The silence that followed his statement was intense. Lacey didn't say anything more after that. He knew he had hurt her but couldn't bring himself to take back the words. He couldn't afford to go backwards with Lacey, not after everything he had put her through. In Danny's mind, it was better to hurt her now than to cause her more pain or perhaps something even worse down the line. After a few seconds, he heard a muffled shuffling sound followed by low, concerned murmurs from Archie and Jo. A moment later, he heard the telltale click of a closing door.

"Did she leave?" he asked Archie and Jo after a beat. He tried not to dwell on how sad the prospect made him feel.

"What do you think, Danny?" Archie retorted in a surprisingly admonishing tone, "Could you have been more of an ass? The girl swallowed her pride to be here with us to talk to you! The least you can do is cut her some slack!"

"Stay out of it," Danny bit back, confused and annoyed by Archie's protective tone, "You have no idea what's going on between us, okay!"

"I know more than you think."

Danny was still trying to decipher exactly what that meant and why the idea bothered him so much when Jo asked abruptly, "Are you going to come home or what?"

"I already told you that I'm not," he said in a soft, but firm tone, "I'm glad you guys are coming to terms with our mutual pasts but I don't know what else I can do for you."

"Fine," she conceded petulantly, "Be an ass! If you won't come to us, we'll come to you instead."

"No, you can't do that either."

"Why can't we?" she challenged, "You don't get to isolate yourself when there are unresolved issues between us! You can't make arbitrary decisions about our friendship until you know the whole story. We deserve the chance to talk to you in person and to be heard by you. You owe us that much, Danny! You owe Lacey."

"What else is there to talk about?" he cried in frustration.

"There's plenty to talk about! Damn it, Danny, would you stop being so stubborn for once in your freaking life and listen to me?"

" _I'm_ the one who's being stubborn? Really, Jo?"

"Let us come to see you," she implored, abruptly switching her tactics from bullying to cajolery, "If after that you're still sure that you don't want us to be friends, I'll accept that. I'll accept whatever you want."

"It's not that simple! What part of 'I live with my grandparents' are you not understanding?" he snapped, "I'm a guest in their home. I can't just invite you here and bring all sorts of drama into their house! It wouldn't be fair!"

From outside the den entrance, Danny heard his grandmother call out, "Yes, you can! I'm perfectly okay with that."

Danny jumped in startled disbelief, his surprise quickly becoming annoyance when he heard his grandfather say, "You can't just eavesdrop on the boy's conversation, Mimi! It's rude."

"What do you mean?" Mimi cried, "You're standing right here with me. You're just as guilty!"

"At least I'm quiet about it," Cam grumbled in reply.

Realizing belatedly that he had an audience, Danny briefly face palmed before covering the phone receiver so he could hiss furtively, "Have you two been listening at the door the entire time?"

Mimi peeked at him from around the corner. "Not the _entire_ time. Just a little while," she squeaked with a chastened expression but then ruined it when she added in a cheery tone, "Tell your friends they can come for your party. I think it would be a great idea."

Danny shook his head at them in helpless exasperation. "Ugh. You both drive me crazy."

His grandmother flashed him a dazzling smile. "We love you too, dear."

By the time Danny turned his attention back to his phone call Jo was fairly screeching in his ear, "Hello? Hello?! Danny! Danny Aran Desai! Are you listening to me right now?"

"God, Jo! How could I not? They can hear you all the way in Turkey!" he grumbled sarcastically, "Would you stop screeching in my ear?"

"Are you going to give us your address or not?" she demanded.

"You're beating a dead horse," he warned her.

Jo was unruffled. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way, Desai. You choose."

Danny mentally counted to ten before he finally relented with an irritated sigh. "Fine! Get a pen and paper because I'm only saying this once..."


	39. Chapter Thirty Eight

**Chapter Thirty Eight**

Danny tried not to appear as nervous as he felt as he stood at the end of the driveway and watched the sun bounced off the hood of Archie's car as it motored down the long, winding drive that led to his grandparents' home. The house was located in a secluded area behind a copse of trees and would have been impossible for anyone who didn't know it existed already to find from the road. So when Danny had spotted a lone car on the road from his perch at the large bay window in the family room, he had known without a doubt that it was Archie.

His grandparents had been gently teasing him about being nervous all afternoon, a charge which he fervently denied. In fact, he did his utmost to maintain an unaffected veneer though that may have been brought into question by the way he kept obsessively checking for their arrival. Still, for the most part Danny was outwardly impassive. After all, to admit he was nervous would also mean admitting that there might exist a tiny part of him that wanted more than closure from Archie and Jo's visit. It also didn't help that his grandparents' home was currently crawling with curious onlookers, also known as his relatives.

Uncles, aunts, cousins and other extended family were all so eager to get to know his "friends" and gain some small bit of insight into the life he had led before he met them. They didn't understand that it was a life Danny had been trying to forget since the moment he had come there. It was far too complicated to explain the details of his ruined friendships with Archie and Jo much less navigate the complexity of their shared past lives. He simplified matters by saying that they'd had a fight shortly before his accident and hadn't spoken to each other since then. For that reason, Danny knew that his family would be willing to give him privacy initially but he didn't know how long that would hold before their natural curiosity got the better of them.

Determined not to worry about what he couldn't control, however, Danny put all of those thoughts out of his mind as Archie rumbled past the security gate and pulled his car up with the cluster of other parked cars crowded into the circle driveway. A fine tremble set up residence in Danny's limbs. He didn't realize that he held the top of his cane in a death grip until his hand started to ache. Unfortunately, he couldn't bring himself to relax, especially after the car came to a stop and Archie and Jo climbed out.

He was taken aback to see them at first. Archie, for the most part, had not changed too very much. Aside from a day's worth of beard growth, he seemed the same as he had always been except for his eyes. His eyes looked as if they had aged thousands of years overnight and now held a depth of knowledge and understanding that went far beyond his twenty years of existence. Danny understood that change all too well. Uncovering a past life could prove to be a profound and life-changing discovery.

Jo had that same air about her as well but she had changed physically as well. It wasn't difficult to notice the weight she had lost since he'd last seen her or the fact her blonde curls had been straightened and darkened to deep mahogany waves. Danny had to do a double-take at first because he didn't immediately recognize her.

"You're brunette," he commented in surprise.

"I always have been," Jo replied flippantly.

Danny opened his mouth to point out to her that she had also once been Egyptian but that had clearly changed when the back door of Archie's car unexpectedly swung open and Lacey climbed from the back seat. His would be sarcastic rejoinder stuck in his throat. His fingers tightened on the head of his cane once more.

In an effort to maintain his cool, Danny deliberately tore his eyes away from Lacey though it was clear to everyone present that he was flustered by her presence. He tried to address Jo's earlier comment with the initial mockery he had intended but it came out as a weak stammer instead. "Well...uh...yeah...but not in this life." For the moment, they all stood together awkwardly, not knowing whether they should hug or shake hands or exchange nods like casual acquaintances. Finally, Danny decided on a neutral topic and asked Jo, "So how was your trip here?"

"Fairly uneventful. I slept most of the way. You know me and long car trips."

"Natural sedative?"

"Exactly."

Danny thinned his lips against the smile that threatened. He wasn't oblivious to how easily they fell back into their old pattern of banter but he stubbornly refused to be charmed by her. Still, he couldn't ignore the fact that the camaraderie that had once existed between them, before the drunken sex, pregnancy and endless lies, apparently had not died. Not wanting to dwell on that at all, Danny turned and inclined a cordial nod towards Archie.

"Yates. Your jaw doesn't look nearly as crooked as I was expecting."

"And your nose job has made a definite improvement to your ugly face," Archie replied before ruining the insult with a small smile, "It's good to see you again, Danny."

At that point, it became impossible for Danny to pretend that Lacey wasn't standing less than six feet away from him. He gave up the endeavor then and finally addressed her. He wasn't prepared for how pretty she would look dappled in the sunlight or the crazy thumping his heart would begin at the sight of her. Despite his best intention to remain aloof, he drank her in intently with his eyes, surreptitiously taking in everything from her long, dark hair pulled back from her face in a ponytail to her long, toned legs which were bare and shapely and beautiful.

"I didn't know you were coming," he remarked softly, "I thought after our last conversation that..."

"I never said I wasn't," she replied, fairly drinking him in with her gaze as well. "You cut off all your hair. I wasn't expecting that." It was a feat but somehow Lacey resisted the urge to touch his shortened locks and sift her fingers through them. Instead, she contented walked around him in order to inspect the shorn back. "It's different."

Danny wanted to ask her if that was a good or bad different and if she liked it but the question seemed far too intimate for what remained between them now. He said instead, "My grandmother thought I should look nice for you."

"You do look nice." She offered him a trembling smile. "You look really good, Danny, much better than the last time I saw you."

"It's not hard to make an improvement over a breathing tube and body traction but thank you anyway."

Lacey winced at the reminder of his hospital stay and, most particularly, her absence from his bedside. She wanted to explain her reasoning to him right then and there, to assure him that even while she was furious with him, even when she thought she _hated_ him, she had never stopped thinking about him but Danny cut off her would be avowal by directing them all to follow him into the house. She fell into step behind him with a disappointed sigh.

Just as Danny was expecting, as soon as they stepped into the foyer, there was an entire processional of people waiting there to greet them with his grandparents leading the pack. Archie, Jo and Lacey stopped short, taken aback by so many unfamiliar faces and curious gazes trained on them. Danny rolled his eyes in amused exasperation and laughingly made the introductions.

"Archie, Jo, Lacey, these are my grandparents, Cameron and Miriam Kincaid," he said, "Grandparents, these are my friends from Green Grove."

As warm as ever, Mimi didn't stop at a polite handshake but enfolded each of them in an affectionate hug. "I remember seeing you both at the hospital when Danny was in the ICU," Mimi remarked to Archie and Jo. She looked directly at Jo. "You were always at his bedside so he was never alone," she recalled in gratitude. She then turned to Archie. "And you would never go inside to see him, except when he was sleeping but you were always there too."

Archie and Jo exchanged uneasy glances before Jo asked, "Were the two of you there the whole time?"

Miriam bobbed a nod. "You were too distraught to notice me and my husband during that time but _we_ noticed everything. We drank it in. You were the people who meant something to our grandson after all." Unaware of the thickened tension her words were causing between Archie, Jo and Danny, Miriam turned to greet Lacey with a warm smile. "It's very good to meet you too. I didn't get an opportunity to see you there when Danny was in the hospital."

"Yeah...um...I might have been gone by the time you showed up," Lacey replied in self-conscious tone.

"I know, dear," Mimi murmured, "I know about your sister. What an incredibly difficult time you've endured. My sincerest condolences for your loss."

Lacey quickly blinked back the tears that started to fill her eyes with the mention of Clara and managed a whispered, "Thank you."

While Lacey took a moment to regain her composure, Danny quickly introduced them to the rest of his family. In particular, they met his Uncle Chase, Chase's wife Dana and their twin boys Rico and Charlie as well as his grandfather's older brother and the host of children and grandchildren he had brought with him as well. When all of the introductions were finally complete and Mimi had offered refreshment and exhausted every bit of small talk possible about their trip, school and their history with her reticent grandson, Danny at long last managed to steer the three of them upstairs to his bedroom so that they could have confidential talk.

As soon as he had shut the door behind them, Danny gave them no time to question him on his newfound family before he was rounding on them with one flat demand. "Okay, now tell me what was so important you had to show up here today?"

Jo choked out a stunned laugh at his frankness. "Wow, you didn't ease into that or anything, did you, Danny?"

He shrugged. "I think we're well beyond the point of polite small talk, wouldn't you agree?" After they had all murmured their agreement, Danny reiterated, "So what are you doing here?"

Archie expelled a lengthy sigh. "Maybe we should all sit down for this."

Danny perched himself on his bed and tried not to read too much into it when Lacey took a seat beside him. Jo situated herself in his desk chair while Archie opted to remain standing, having been designated the unofficial speaker of the group. "First things first," he said, "We should probably address all of this past lives business and put it to rest, don't you think?"

"What's to address?" Danny asked, "You tried to kill me. I killed you. Jo killed Lacey. And then I died. Jo lived and remained queen of Egypt. That's it. End of story."

"Well, we would all prefer," Archie replied with a sweeping glance at Jo and Lacey, indicating that they were onboard with what he was about to say, "if we didn't have a repeat of that past because, frankly, it sucked ass. This isn't ancient Egypt. We're not in a power struggle for a kingdom anymore."

"There shouldn't have been a struggle in the first place," Danny argued, "It was _my_ kingdom."

"And mine," Jo averred softly, "You always seem to forget that part."

"Maybe because I was the one chosen to be our father's successor," Danny retorted, " _You_ always seem to forget _that_ part."

"Alright, enough with the bickering!" Archie intervened before they could degenerate into a childish game of tit for tat, "I know this is very confusing for all of us because we still very much feel those emotions that are tied up with our past lives but we can't let ourselves get sidetracked by that. We have issues we need to deal with in the present. The people we were then have no bearing on the people we are now."

Lacey made a small sound of disagreement. "If that's true, then how do you explain Danny and me or even you and Jo for that matter?" she argued softly, "Obviously we haven't changed too much since we've managed to fall in love with the exact same people all over again."

Although Danny's heart lurched at Lacey's present tense phrasing, he kept his features inscrutable when he said, "I don't really understand why any of this matters at all. Did you guys really make a five hour drive just to rehash literal ancient history?"

"No," Archie replied, "We came all this way to put it to rest so we can unite against a common enemy."

"What are we? The Avengers?" Danny queried in a rather disinterested tone, "What enemy is that supposed to be?"

"Tara."

That one name captured Danny's undivided attention and caused him to sit up straight. The fine hairs on his neck prickled ominously. "What about her?" he asked slowly.

A wordless glance passed between Archie and Jo before Archie revealed softly, "She's the reason that Jo lost the baby."

Danny squinted in disbelief, his mind already careening to a dozen different lurid scenarios with that revelation. He made a concerted effort to keep himself calm however. "What do you mean?"

"She pushed me that day," Jo told him, "I didn't fall down the stairs, Danny. She _pushed_ me. We were fighting near the top of the steps and when I turned to walk away from her, she grabbed my arm and flung me forward. That's the last thing I remember before waking up in the hospital."

"I don't get it. Why would Tara want to push you?" Danny asked, struggling to make the connection, "What were you fighting about?"

When Jo had difficulty answering that question, Lacey stepped into to provide an explanation. Her words were surprisingly free of judgment and instead were merely a statement of fact than a denunciation of Jo. "They were fighting about you. Tara knew the truth about the baby," she revealed to Danny softly, "She was blackmailing Jo about it. When Jo told Tara that she was going to tell you the truth about the baby and about the blackmail, Tara got angry and threw her down the steps."

Danny whipped a stunned look over at Jo. "You were going to tell me the truth?"

Jo dropped her eyes guiltily. "Don't look at me like I'm some kind of martyr," she muttered, "I was only going to tell because I had been backed into a corner and I didn't really have any other options. I'm pretty sure I deliberately antagonized Tara that day, which infuriated her enough to attack me."

Archie leaned over to brush a tender kiss across the top of her head. "That doesn't mean you deserved to be pushed down the steps," he murmured, "Or to lose the baby. She's crazy."

"It was still _my_ fault," she maintained stubbornly, " _my_ responsibility. I set this whole thing in motion with my lie and I hold my share of the blame. I let Tara manipulate and coerce me because I thought it would eventually get me what I wanted...what I _thought_ I wanted," she amended with a meaningful look in Danny's direction. "I had no idea what kind of person I was dealing with at the time."

"Have you reported any of this to the police?" Danny asked.

Jo nodded. "Every word. Around the same time we reported you missing actually."

"And what did they say?"

"What do you think they said?" Jo replied, her tone crisp with bitterness, "It's hearsay. They said they can't arrest her without proof or a witness. She painted me as some hysterical, vindictive child who was so crazed after your rejection that I was willing to go to extreme lengths to ruin your family . They questioned her just to satisfy my parents but, of course, she denied everything. And not that it matters in the grand scheme of every horrible thing that woman has done but...she fired my dad from the company."

"She did what?" Danny balked, "That's...that's crazy. Your dad has worked for Desai Corp. since before I was alive! He knows that company backwards and forwards!"

"None of that mattered to her. She told my dad that they were 'going in a different direction' and asked him to leave but I know she did it as retaliation because I went to the police."

Danny, however, suspected that it was much more than that. He thought back to the investigation Kyle Masterson had launched to uncover the source of the money being siphoned out of the company's accounts. There had been months of distractions and personal issues to delay the task but Danny doubted seriously that the man had given up. He wondered now if Jo's father had gotten close to discovering the answers he had been seeking for so long. Perhaps what he had found incriminated Tara directly. If she were to be found out, it would jeopardize everything she had worked so hard to steal. Danny knew all too well how his aunt reacted when someone got too close to something she wanted. She blew their world apart.

"She's covering her tracks," he muttered to himself and then asked Jo in a louder tone, "So what is your family going to do now? Has your dad found something else yet?"

"We'll be fine," Jo said, "Money is going to be tight for a little while until my dad finds another job, that is if Tara Desai doesn't blacklist him from every company in the state. She's out to ruin is reputation right now but we're going to get through it. In the meantime, if things get too tough, my parents can always dip into my college fund."

"But...what about all your plans for medical school?"

Jo shrugged, the casual gesture incongruent with the devastation reflected in the depths of her blue eyes. "I guess I'll defer a couple of semesters," she considered aloud, "It really doesn't matter too much in the long run. I haven't really had a head for school or much of anything since..." She petered off into silence, as if unable to complete the sentence out loud. Finally, she finished with a lame, "...well, you know."

"It's awful what's happened to you and your family, Jo," Danny murmured sincerely, "I'm sorry that Tara is targeting you. I wish there was something I could do."

"There _is_ something you can do, Danny," Jo told him, "You could come back to Green Grove with us and tell the police about what Tara did to you. Help us prove that she's a monster and put her away for the rest of her life!"

Danny went completely still, sparing Lacey a brief, accusing look as he instantly assumed she had told them all of his secrets regarding Tara. He missed the imperceptible shake of her head in answer because he was already asking Jo in a deceptively casual tone, "What do you think she did to me, Jo?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about! The tampering with your car, Danny!" Jo exploded impatiently as if all of that should have been obvious to him, "Your abduction when you were in New York!" She paused and then added in a meaningful whisper, "The drugs."

He blinked at her noncommittally. "What about those things?"

"Danny, you told me when you were in the hospital that you had been clean for months," Jo reminded him softly, "Were you lying to me?"

Before answering, Danny deliberately looked straight at Lacey when he answered, "No. I wasn't lying."

"Then either someone falsified your toxicology report," Archie considered, " _Or_ , someone was drugging you."

"I'm pretty sure it was the latter," Danny told them, "I had been feeling off for weeks before that. The cravings were back and they were so strong. Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night just soaked in sweat and feeling like I wanted to crawl out of my skin. I remember thinking that I was going crazy. I felt awful all of the time. I think that's what it was." He offered Lacey a bittersweet smile. "So, in a way, you were right when you accused me of being back on drugs. I guess I was."

"It's not your fault," she murmured, "You didn't know. You were being roofied."

"All of this has to amount to something," Archie considered, "These are serious crimes! If we go to the police together with all of this, they'll have to listen to us. Tara can't just get away with murder and continue to walk around free."

"But she will," Danny predicted darkly, "We don't have any proof. No one saw her push Jo down the stairs. No one can tie her to the abduction. I can't provide any evidence that she was drugging my food and I sure as hell can't prove that she deliberately tampered with my car! We can't tie her directly to anything that has happened. In the eyes of the law, her hands are clean."

"Then maybe we need to take the law into our own hands," Jo considered softly.

Archie tipped a quizzical look down at her, chilled by the resignation he heard in her tone. "What are you suggesting right now?"

Jo's expression hardened into a remote mask. "We've all killed for a lot less in the past."

Danny stared at her as if she had just sprouted snakes from her head and developed a forked tongue. "You can't be suggesting what I think you're suggesting."

"It wouldn't be revenge, Danny," she argued fervidly, "It would be justice."

Having recovered from his initial shock over the proposal, Archie inclined a small nod of agreement. "She's right. If the cops can't help us then we have to help ourselves. Besides, who would really miss her other than your dad?" he considered, "She ruins peoples' lives. We'd be doing the world a service."

"What is wrong with you? This isn't the wild, wild west, Archie!" Danny bit out, "We can't just take people out back and hang 'em high because we have a grudge! There's a process we have to follow here. We can't just do what we want!"

Jo's countenance remained impassive despite his impassioned argument. "That seems to work just fine for Tara."

"Are you hearing yourself right now?" Danny cried in disbelief, "So much for being changed! How is what you're saying right now any different from when you attacked Lacey?"

"She killed my baby, Danny!" Jo cried, "Even if I deserved her hatred, _my son_ didn't! She needs to pay for that!"

"And for my sister. She killed my little sister," Lacey added softly, "Everything that Clara could have become is gone and Tara took that away. I think she should pay for that too." Danny ricocheted an astonished look at Lacey. He didn't know if she was talking out of grief or anger but he had absolutely no doubts that she was completely serious. She met his incredulous stare with unwavering, resolved eyes. "Think of everything she's done, Danny, _especially_ to you. Do you really want her to walk around free after all of that? It's not right."

Their argument was too compelling. That was partly the reason Danny had reacted with such vehemence against it because the idea had crossed his own mind once or twice as well and he knew it was wrong. Whenever it had surfaced, he had never allowed himself to dwell on it for too long but instead would quickly discard it from his thoughts. Now they were all sitting there, discussing a possible scenario where they would mete out justice to his aunt themselves and _no one_ was laughing it off as a joke. Frankly, it terrified Danny a little.

"What are you guys are proposing is murder," he hissed at them emphatically, "You know that, right?"

Archie made an offhand grunt under his breath, as if unbothered by the idea completely. "So what if it is? It's not anything _she_ hasn't done."

Danny glared at him. "That would make us no different from her!" he snapped, "And I'm _nothing_ like Tara!"

Jo scoffed at his reply. "So you'll let her go free to uphold some antiquated moral ideal?" she snorted derisively, "Really, Danny?"

"It's still a better alternative than _murder_."

Archie stepped in to diffuse the situation before it could become too volatile. "No one is suggesting that should be our first option, Danny-,"

"-it shouldn't be an option at all!"

"-We're just saying if the police can't follow through," Archie continued in calm explanation after gaining nods of agreement from Lacey and Jo, "then maybe we'll have to take matters into our own hands."

Jo looked at Danny then, her eyes almost intensely blue in that moment. "Do you remember that old abandoned fort in the woods where you and I used to play as kids?" she asked, "We could take her there when the time came...bury her there. There are so many trees. No one would ever know. No one would ever find her."

Danny rolled stiffly from the bed and grabbed his cane as if he meant to walk out of there. " _We_ would know, Jo!" he cried, " _We_ would have to live with it! Could you live with it?"

"For my son, I could," Jo replied quietly.

"And for my sister," Lacey added. She tipped back her head to regard Danny solemnly. "And you, Danny."

He looked over to Archie wildly, hoping to appeal to his friend's sense of reason. "Tell me you think that this is crazy," he begged, "You won't actually let them go through with something like this! This is their grief talking! This isn't rational thinking! Come on, Archie! You have to be the clear one here! How is that any different from what happened before?"

"Are you really equating my poor decision to allow Ay and Horemheb to manipulate me into betraying my best friend with ridding ourselves of a murderer who _continues_ to make our lives hell?" Archie asked incredulously, "The situations aren't remotely the same."

"But the proud, self-entitled attitude is _exactly_ the same!" Danny retorted, "It would have to be for you to ever think you have the right to take another person's life, even if that person _is_ Tara. That's for the gods or God to decide, not us!"

"I don't believe in either," Lacey replied softly, "So it's for _me_ to decide."

"But Jo and Archie believe," Danny countered with equal softness. He glanced to them both, easily reading the hesitation on both of their faces. "You _do_ still believe and you know that what you're contemplating is wrong on so many levels!"

Jo glared at him in silence for so long that he was sure he had lost the argument and Danny didn't have the luxury of losing it because if Jo stood firm in her resolve then it was likely Lacey would also. He actually sagged in relief when Jo abruptly burst into tears. He watched with repressed empathy as she buried her face in her hands and wept out bitter tears.

"I...I don't kn-know...what else t-to...d-do..." she sobbed, "...I...I...j-just...w-want to st-stop...f-feeling...this w-way... I'm s-so...h-helpless all...of th-the time!"

"Killing Tara won't fix that," Danny told her.

Lacey stared at him with wide, wounded eyes. "Then what will? Because watching her walk around free isn't helping either."

Danny dropped his head forward with a defeated sigh. "I wish I knew. I'm still trying to figure that out for myself."

The four of them were understandably subdued in the wake of that emotionally charged discussion but, for the moment, the discussion about murder was tabled. Left with little else to talk about (or at least that Danny was willing to address), Archie, Jo and Lacey began to make plans for their trip back to Green Grove. Before they could leave, however, Mimi insisted that they stay for dinner. Archie, Jo and Lacey lacked the energy to resist her urging. Once dinner was concluded, an unexpected thunderstorm rolled in that evening providing Mimi with a perfect opportunity to insist that they stay overnight as well. She was hoping that the arrangement would make Danny happy but it only increased his stress levels.

It was an awkward situation all around, like a children's sleepover without any of the actual friendship or familiar affection. He provided Jo, Archie and Lacey with blankets, pillows and sleepwear for the night but he might as well have been a hotel concierge for all the interaction they had after that. Danny still hadn't sorted out whether a friendship could be salvaged with Archie and Jo or even if he wanted to salvage it.

In addition to that, the longer he was near Lacey, the more he vacillated about keeping his distance from her. The yearning he had for her had not gone away. Truthfully, it was stronger than ever. He wanted to hold her and kiss her and surround himself with her warmth and having her sleep in the bedroom next door to his certainly wasn't helping him ignore those desires. And if those heavily lingering, unresolved issues weren't enough, the looming presence of the conversation that had taken place in Danny's bedroom earlier continued to haunt him.

He lay in his bed later that night with his hands stacked behind his head and his eyes fixed on the ceiling, seriously contemplating the possibility. Archie, Jo and Lacey didn't even have a full list of Tara's crimes. They had no idea what she had done to torment him once he had been released from the hospital. They didn't know about the fear that had punctuated his every waking day for weeks. They didn't know how much hatred he actually harbored for the woman. She had cost him his relationship, his home and his father. He could gladly see her dead. He just didn't know if he could be the one to carry it out. He didn't know if he could live with it on his conscience afterwards. But the idea was unquestionably tempting...

Danny was struggling not to meditate too deeply on how much better a world without Tara Desai in it would be when he thought he heard a knock on his door. He tensed and sat upright, waiting until the soft rapping sounded again before he answered, "Yeah? Who is it?"

He was only half surprised when a t-shirt clad Lacey (clothing she had borrowed from him) appeared in his doorway. On some subconscious level he had been waiting for her to show up. She didn't wait for him to invite her in but slipped beyond the door and closed it behind her. The sound of the door clicking into place as Lacey locked it behind her seemed to echo loudly through the quiet room.

"We need to talk," she whispered.

"It's two o'clock in the morning," he whispered back.

"I know. I couldn't sleep."

"Me either." He waited for her to approach his bed. It seemed as if she wanted to but she kept hesitating to step forward. Finally, he invited her to do so and some of the rigidity went out of her stance. "I guess you and I have a lot of stuff to sort out between us," he acknowledged once she had perched herself on the edge of his bed. Both of them were acutely aware of their proximity to one another though Danny tried his best not to be affected by it. "So what do you want to talk about?"

"First of all, I want to apologize to you for everything," she said thickly, "For leaving you in the hospital when you needed me. For ignoring you this entire time. For hating you. You tried to tell me what was happening with you over and over and I wouldn't listen. I said horrible things to you, Danny, and you'll never know how much I regret them."

"You don't owe me any apologies, Lacey," he told her, "Your sister died driving _my_ car. You were entitled to feel whatever you needed to feel. And what you said to me before...I already told you that you weren't wrong about that. Nothing you said to me was a lie and I needed to hear it."

"It was unfair. You weren't responsible for Clara's death. You were as much a victim as she was."

"But she was with me. She was in my car and I didn't protect her. She was your sister and my friend and I should have protected her and I couldn't. I'm sorry I couldn't protect her, Lacey."

"I'm sorry too."

A profoundly pregnant silence fell between them as Danny worked up the courage to ask, "How are you doing with everything now?"

She shrugged but her posture stooped heavily with the question. "Sometimes, it still doesn't feel real. I keep waiting for her to come bursting into my room uninvited. I keep expecting to wake up to her singing in the shower." Lacey emitted a teary chuckle at the memory. "She was so bad. She sounded like a dying cat."

Danny choked back his own laugh at her description but then sobered quickly after that. "What about your mom? Is she doing better now?"

"She has good days and bad days. More bad days than good at this point but, at least, she gets out of bed now. A little progress is better than none at all."

"Does she...?" Danny paused in a rough swallow before he could start again. "Does she blame me?"

"No. She never did. That was all me, Danny." Their eyes met briefly before Lacey glanced away to whisk her fingers over the fresh tears that fell on her cheeks. She took several deep breaths, fortifying herself to ask her next question, one that had plagued her for the last several months. "You were the last one to see Clara that day," she began timorously, "How was she? Did she suffer? Was...was she in a lot of pain at the end? They told us that she died instantly but I don't know if that's true...if that's something they tell the families so they won't feel so awful..."

"I don't know, Lacey," he whispered in a sorrowful tone, "I don't remember the accident. But, even if I _did_ remember, I don't think I would tell you that. You don't want that to be the last image of your sister in your head."

"It's already there. Every time I close my eyes, that's what I see. I see her suffering and scared and I hate it."

"She wasn't suffering," Danny reassured her softly, "The last thing I remember clearly was dancing. We were listening to the radio and she was bopping her head and singing along. And she was laughing. Your sister had this incredible laugh and when she did...when she laughed, you couldn't help but laugh with her. Lagus laughed like that."

"I know. I remember that about him...and about her. I miss that. I miss _her_."

"I'm sorry I couldn't come to her funeral," Danny mumbled gruffly.

Lacey offered him a teary smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Well, you were unconscious and trying not to die at the time. You had a good excuse."

"You shouldn't have had to go through that alone."

"I wasn't alone," she reassured him, "I had my mom and my dad even made an appearance too. My family and friends from Baltimore came. The friends that Clara made here, even her teachers. My mom and I got a lot of support. But I know what you mean. When I let myself forget how mad I was at you, I wished you were there too."

"It's probably better that I wasn't though," Danny said gruffly, "I would have brought your family added scrutiny and you guys didn't deserve that."

"Yeah, it was a little tense with all the reporters those first few weeks," Lacey agreed.

"I'm sorry about that too."

"That wasn't your fault either. You can't help it if those reporters had a field day with your past and made my sister collateral damage." She lapsed into silence then, nibbling pensively at her lower lip. It was pretty clear to Danny that she wanted to ask him a question but seemed hesitant to do it, so he encouraged her softly to, "Just ask."

"Why were you at that park that night?" she asked him bluntly, "Clara's friends said that's where everyone goes if they want to score drugs. Why did you go?"

"For the exact reason you're thinking I went," he confessed shamefully, "I was angry with you and feeling sorry for myself and I just wanted to get out of my own head for a while. I was so tired, Lacey. I set it up to meet my dealer in the park and Clara showed up before he arrived. She talked some sense into me, made me realize I was being an idiot."

"Yeah...she was good at that," Lacey recalled with a mixture of fondness and grief.

"We were coming to see you that night," Danny said, "She was going to help me grovel for your forgiveness. We were talking about maybe becoming real friends but then it went all to hell."

"It really did," she agreed mournfully.

Danny whispered her name and reached across the bed to briefly squeeze her hand, giving Lacey very little time to savor his touch. "I don't want you to think you have to apologize to me," he said fervently, "You don't. _I'm_ the one who owes _you_ an apology. I've done nothing except cause you pain since we met and I'm talking about the very _first_ time we met. I think that must mean something."

"Like what?"

"Like we were defying the stars by being together," he whispered, "Like maybe we weren't meant to be happy together at all."

Her eyes glittered at him in the dimness. "You don't really believe that, do you? We found each other again after thousands of years, Danny. I love you now as much as I loved you then, more in fact."

"And what does that get you?" She mewled his name his name softly and started to scoot closer to him with every intention of answering his question with action his next words stopped her cold. "Don't do that, Lacey. Can you honestly say when you look at me you don't see the face of your dead sister?" he charged quietly, "Or the baby that died with you?"

"Neither of those things were your doing."

"But both things happened because you loved me," he said, "When are you going to finally admit to yourself that I'm not worth it? Doesn't even a small part of you resent me for living when Clara didn't?"

"Not even a small part," she uttered hoarsely, "I didn't want either of you to die."

"But one of us _did_ die," he concluded grimly, "You're always paying the price to be with me and that's not fair. It's not right. You shouldn't have to suffer every time we're together but you do. Over and over and over again."

"Sometimes love is painful and it's messy," Lacey reasoned, "There are always going to be rough patches, Danny. But, you push your way through it. You navigate around it. You do what you have to do to be together, to _stay_ together."

"I don't accept that. Not anymore. I want better for you. _You_ should want better for you."

The implicit allegation that she was somehow selling herself short caused Lacey to bristle, partly because he was questioning her judgment and partly because he was insulting himself. "So what are you trying to do here, Danny? Is this some attempt at martyrdom? What are you saying to me? Are you trying to 'set me free' so I can love again or some other crap?"

"No, Lacey. I'm not setting you free so you can love again. Though I'm sure that will come in time and, when it does, I'll wish you all the happiness in the world. But that's not why I'm saying this right now. I'm setting you free so you don't die trying to love me," he said, his voice breaking on the last of his words, "I'm setting you free so you can _live_."


	40. Chapter Thirty Nine

**Chapter Thirty Nine**

Her death hadn't felt completely real to him until that moment, when he was kneeling at her gravesite and tracing his fingers through the grooves of her engraved name. Clara Evangeline Porter, 1998-2013. She died just shy of her sixteenth birthday. He read the inscription beneath her name. _Beloved daughter. Force to be reckoned with._ Danny recited the words aloud with a heavy heart.

"God, you really were, weren't you?" he whispered to her headstone mournfully, "In both lifetimes. I'm so sorry this happened to you, Clara."

It hadn't been his first intention to end up at Clara Porter's gravesite. When he returned to Green Grove that morning for his scheduled court date in regards to his assault on Archie, Danny had expected he would be on his way back to New Haven by the afternoon. That was one of the reasons he had rejected his grandparents offer to accompany him. He had been hoping for a quick turnaround. The other reason was that he still harbored residual shame from his behavior that day and he hadn't wanted them there to bear witness to what he saw as one of the genuine low points in his life.

His plan had been a simple one. After having his high powered attorney establish that the fight had merely been a boyish scuffle that got out of hand and not a deliberate attempt to cause harm, Danny was going to stand before the judge with his guilty plea, accept his anticipated sentence of community service, probation and mandatory drug counseling and then get out of there. The last thing he had expected was for Jo and Archie to appear in court to speak on his behalf. Not only had they pleaded with the judge to be lenient with Danny's sentence, Archie had even taken full responsibility by admitting to provoking the fight.

There had been a tentative truce established between the three of them ever since Archie and Jo's impromptu visit to his grandparents' home three weeks earlier. Danny had spoken with them briefly a handful of times in the interim and mostly in regards to the snail-like progression being made in Tara's investigation. They exchanged pleasantries, talked about and asked after each other's family but their friendship was nowhere near what it had once been. While much of his anger and resentment towards them had faded, Danny continued to mistrust them. He often wondered if that would ever change.

However, moments like that morning, when Archie and Jo were ardently speaking on his behalf, made Danny consider the possibility that he might be able to believe in them again. One day. In the most secret part of his heart, Danny could acknowledge to himself that he wanted to believe in them. He wanted to trust them again. Or, at the very least, move beyond the awkward cordiality that punctuated their every interaction. They were trying but Danny had a difficult time meeting them halfway.

After the hearing was over, they had talked for a short while to exchange polite greetings and speculate on his father and aunt's conspicuous absences from court. Danny had been disappointed when Vikram was a no show but he hadn't been completely surprised by it. He had heard from his father exactly one time since he had taken up residence with his grandparents and that conversation had essentially consisted of Vikram disowning him.

Vikram Desai had expressed to Danny how thoroughly disappointed and disgusted he was by his only son's apparent disloyalty and defection. He indicated to Danny that he intended to ship the remainder of Danny's belongings to New Haven since that was where Danny "thought he belonged" and then further indicated that there would be no need for him and Danny to have further contact. That was it. He hadn't questioned Danny about what had prompted him to flee to his grandparents, people who were virtual strangers to him, in the first place. He hadn't even inquired after Danny's health. Instead, he had acted as if _Danny_ had been the one to abandon and betray _him_ rather than the other way around.

Danny didn't want his father's rejection to hurt but it did. He didn't want Archie and Jo to sense his pain over it either but they did. And so, when they invited him to have lunch with them at their usual hangout following the hearing, Danny had declined their offer. He hadn't wanted their pity nor had he wanted to let himself depend on them emotionally, even if only to rant bitterly about his father. He rejected their offers of comfort and concern because he couldn't afford to make himself vulnerable to them, or anyone else for that matter, ever again.

He had learned a very painful lesson over the ensuing last few months and it was one that Danny was unlikely to forget. He could not trust _anyone_ other than himself. He wished he could. He wanted to but he couldn't escape the irrefutable truth that people left. People disappointed. People lied and betrayed. Whenever he felt himself softening towards Archie or Jo or compelled by his grandparents' kindness or even longing for Lacey, Danny reminded himself of that brutal fact. He never let himself forget the destructive consequences of letting his guard down. Those were the very thoughts that led him to the cemetery in the first place.

Initially, he had gone to the baby's gravesite in hopes of gaining some sort of closure regarding the lies Jo had told and his own conflicted feelings over the baby's death. He supposed he had loved the child but he hadn't really considered the emotion too closely while Jo was pregnant. Instead, he had focused on his responsibility and his aspirations for the baby's future and what kind of father he had wanted to be. It was only when he saw the baby and held the baby that the child had become real to Danny and he was able to name the emotion he felt. It _had_ been love and the feeling hadn't suddenly disappeared upon discovering he wasn't the father after all. He grieved nonetheless.

So, he imagined that he would go there and clear away any weeds or dead leaves that might have collected and he would lay flowers and whisper to the baby all the secret things in his heart that he couldn't say out loud to anyone else. But, when he arrived, he found an already immaculate gravesite adorned with freshly laid flowers and a small card that read: _Thinking of you. Mommy and Daddy._ Danny thought that reading those words might fill him with renewed bitterness over all that had happened but he was left feeling profoundly sad instead.

Somehow then, he found himself at Clara's gravesite, having learned from Lacey that her sister had been laid to rest not far from Danny II. He laid the white roses he had purchased for the baby at her headstone and whispered countless apologies for all the things he could not change and, truthfully, had no control over. He told her all the things plaguing his heart that he couldn't share with another living soul. That was exactly how Lacey found him several minutes later.

"They're really pretty. She liked white roses. She thought they were classy."

Danny lurched around at the sound of her voice, dipping his head forward to furtively scrub at the tears staining his cheeks before he looked at her. He shifted heavily to his feet, using his cane for leverage. "I...ah...I didn't hear you come up," he said lamely, "I don't mean to intrude. I was just leaving."

"You don't have to do that on my account," she said when he started to limp past her. He froze in place as her soft plea drifted to his ears. "I wasn't expecting to see you. Please stay a minute."

He shook his head. "That's not a good idea."

"Why isn't it a good idea? We haven't spoken to each other in three weeks! You don't answer my calls or respond to my emails. You've _blocked_ me on Facebook so when are we supposed to do this? Explain to me why _talking_ isn't a good idea, Danny!"

Against his better judgment, he pivoted to face her then. "You know why it's not a good idea, Lacey, and we agreed before that-,"

"-No, _we_ didn't agree on anything! _You_ agreed," she corrected before he could finish, "You've made all of these decisions for the both of us without asking me how _I_ felt at all."

He refrained from pointing out to her that she had made her feelings quite clear to him or even addressing her statement at all. Instead, he dug around in his jacket pocket and produced a small, manila envelope. He passed it to her. "It's a check," he explained when she turned it over in her hands with a curious frown. Her confusion remained so he clarified, "For the bail you put up. I showed up in court today so you get your money back."

Lacey closed her fist around the envelope. "Oh. I didn't know that was today." She left unspoken that she would have been there had she known.

He left unspoken that was the very reason he had said nothing. "Yeah, it was. I was going to mail the money to you later but since you're here..."

"Thanks."

"No. Thank you. I should have never put you in that position. It was decent of you to help me out that day."

"Why are you're talking to me like you were some kind of charity case?" she mumbled, "It wasn't like that at all. You were my boyfriend. I loved you. That's why I did it...because I _love_ you, Danny."

The intensely uttered declaration and stressed present tense clearly made him uncomfortable because he started backing up several steps in preparation to leave. "Anyway...I should really get going. My grandparents are expecting me back soon."

"Is this really all we are to each other now?" Lacey asked at his back, "Just polite exchanges and nothing else...barely even acquaintances?" Danny, once again, stopped short with her words. "We were in love with each other, Danny," she considered quietly, "We're _still_ in love. We made a baby together once. We found each other again against all odds. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"What do you want me to say, Lacey?" His tone was despondent, weary and defeated.

"Tell me that you want more than this!" she cried, "Tell me you don't want us to just be _strangers_ to each other after all we've been through together!"

He whipped to face her then, his eyes leaping fire. "That's what you said _you_ wanted!" he charged, "You wanted to be done with me, remember! _You_ said we were a mistake so don't turn it around on me now!"

She flinched at the reminder. "Don't throw my words back in my face like that," she whispered, "You know what I was going through when I said that to you. It's not fair, Danny."

"You're right. It's not."

"This isn't right. I hate not talking to you. I hate this distance between us."

"It needs to be there."

"Because you think if I'm with you I'll be in danger?" she concluded without heat, "You're afraid I'm going to be hurt if we stay together."

Danny inclined a meaningful nod towards her sister's headstone. "Do you freaking blame me?" he burst out, "Look at what's happened already! I'm trying to do the right thing for you, Lacey."

"And what's right for you?" she countered in a soft, knowing tone, "What's going on in your head, Danny?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"I watched you when you were with your grandparents that day Jo, Archie and I visited," she said, "It's obvious that they care about you but you hold them at arm's length, like you hold everybody at arm's length. You've put up this wall and now you won't let anybody in."

He didn't bother to deny her allegation but demanded rather brusquely, "What is the point of this conversation right now? What do you want from me, Lacey?"

"I want you to talk to me!" she flared, "Yell at me. Be sad. Be mad. I don't care! Just _be_ something! _Feel_ something!"

"I gotta go."

As he started to turn away from her again, Lacey cried out before she could stop herself, "Danny, please don't leave!"

He groaned aloud at her plea, his expression revealing the depth of his internal conflict for the first time since their confrontation began. "Please don't do this to me, Lacey," he begged her in a small voice, "I can't..."

"Do what? What am I doing?"

"Making this hard for me! I'm trying _not_ to hurt you."

"By doing what? Ignoring me? Rejecting me? Really? You think that's _helping_ , Danny?" she scoffed incredulously, "It feels like you're punishing me."

"Why would I want to punish you?"

"Because I left you in that hospital alone," she said, "Because I left you vulnerable to your aunt. You don't have to tell me what happened. I know she must have done something terrible to you if you felt your only option was staying with people you hardly even know!"

His expression hardened. "I'm not discussing that with you."

"You used to," she reminded him, "You used to talk to me about everything."

"Things change. _I've_ changed."

Lacey regarded him with a sad smile. "I can see that."

"Then let me go."

"I keep trying to and I can't." She speared him with a penetrating look. "How are you able to let go so easily?"

"Who says that I have?" he countered.

It was the tiniest admission that he was struggling with the distance between them as much as she was and, for Lacey, it was more than enough. She took the opportunity given to her then to widen the small chink in his emotional armor. The only way she was going to move past the barriers he had erected against her would be if she knocked them down, one by one. It would have to begin with getting him to admit that he didn't want to be apart from her anymore than she wanted to be apart from him.

"Have a cup of coffee with me," she entreated capriciously, taking him thoroughly off guard with the sudden request.

"What?"

"Just one cup of coffee. You can spare the time for a little caffeine, can't you?"

"Lacey, I don't think that-,"

"-You're proposing to walk out of my life forever after this moment, right?" she concluded grimly, "That's your intention...for this to be the last conversation we ever have. Given that fact, I think I deserve to have one cup of coffee with you, Danny. You owe me that much."

He glowered at her in a mixture of irritation, longing and grudging amusement. "Why are you dragging this out, Lace?"

"Just think of it as giving us a proper goodbye," she replied with a half smile. It took several moments but once he finally nodded his agreement and she had his promise that he would wait for her, Lacey said, "Give me a few minutes alone with my sister and then I'll meet you in the parking lot."

They didn't go to Johnnycakes because Danny didn't want to run the risk of running into Archie and Jo if they did, so they opted to go to a small coffee shop on the other side of town. After they were served and seated, conversation between them proved to be stilted and slow with Lacey doing the majority of the talking and Danny responding in noncommittal grunts. It was a frustrating beginning but Lacey persevered nonetheless.

"I took my entrance exam for the nursing program," she informed him brightly, "I won't know the results for a few weeks though or whether they're good enough to get me into the program but it's a start."

She was taken aback when he seemed genuinely thrilled by her news, the first real instance of pure joy she had seen from him in quite a long time.

"Really? That's incredible, Lacey," he exclaimed, "Congratulations! I know how hard you were working for that." Danny had been so fearful that the recent tragedy she had suffered would somehow derail her plans for her future and he was relieved to learn that wasn't the case. At least that was one thing he hadn't ruined for her.

"Don't congratulate me yet," she warned with a self-conscious smile, "I don't know if I passed. And, even if I do, that's still no guarantee that I'll get into the program."

"You'll get in," he predicted confidently, "And, if you don't, I know you won't quit trying until you do."

Lacey took a sip of her coffee, relaxing a little with the easing of his guard. "What about you?" she asked, "Are you planning to go back to school or are you taking a break?"

"I think school's going to be on hold for awhile. Now that my mobility is better, I'm trying to focus on finding a job and eventually getting my own place. I don't plan to live with my grandparents forever."

She flashed him a dimpled smirk full of teasing. "Since when do you need a job, poor little rich boy?"

"Since my father disinherited me," Danny replied, straight-faced.

Lacey almost dropped her coffee in shock. "He did _what_?"

"He gave control of my money over to Tara and then he disinherited me," he explained with all the urgency of discussing the weather, "I am, for all intents and purposes, completely broke."

"Wha...Why...why didn't you tell me?" Lacey sputtered in dismay.

"I'm telling you now."

"Danny, this is serious!" she cried, "You can't let them get away with this! You can't let Tara take your inheritance, especially after everything she's done! How could your father do that to you?"

"It's okay. Don't get so worked up. I'm surprisingly okay with it."

Lacey wanted to refute that but his expression had reverted back into the same aloof mask that had become typical for him. She couldn't read what was going on behind his eyes at all. The wall had been re-erected and reinforced. Lacey expelled a disenchanted sigh.

"So that's it?" she determined with a disappointed frown, "You're just going to let them win?"

"If it makes you feel better, my grandfather has hired a slew of lawyers to contest the legality of it all," he said, "He's got this wild hair about getting 'justice' for me but I feel like he's being motivated by guilt because he feels like he failed me or something. But honestly? I don't care either way. I just want to move forward with my life. I don't want to look backwards."

"How can you not care? What's happened to you is _criminal_! How can you not be angry? How can you not want revenge? This is your life, Danny! Tara has taken everything from you! How can you be okay with that?"

Lacey hoped wildly that she would tap into his bottled rage, force him to answer even one of those questions but she knew that he wouldn't. He had already shut down long before their conversation had progressed to that point. So, when he scraped back his chair and murmured that they were "done now" with the obvious intention of leaving, she was prepared.

"Could you do me one last favor?" she asked as he shifted to his feet.

Danny regarded her with an expression of restrained impatience. "What, Lacey?"

"Will you come home with me?"

He blinked at her incredulously. "You're kidding, right?"

She couldn't help but smile a little. "I don't mean it like that. I mean to see my mother," she clarified, "She'll want to talk to you...ask questions that only you can answer."

His expression became shuttered as he grasped her meaning. "She'll want to talk to me about Clara."

"Right."

Uncertainty caused his distant exterior to waver. "Lacey, I don't know."

"She needs closure too, Danny. Unfortunately, you're the only one who can give it to her." She stared up at him with wide, earnest eyes. "Please."

Five minutes later, Danny found himself following Lacey to her home in his grandparents' borrowed sedan and wondering how the hell his plans had gotten so complicated. He should have been well on his way to Connecticut by now but instead he was rehashing the past with his ex-girlfriend and trying not to remember how desperately he loved her. Since that night in his bedroom, Lacey had been persistent about reestablishing the lines of communication between them. It had been easier to keep her at bay when he was an entire state away. But seeing her again in person was something for which he had not prepared and he had been scrambling to regain his bearings ever since.

By the time they reached Lacey's home, Danny had already thought up a quick excuse to get out of there once he had satisfied Judy Porter's questions. He would not linger. He would provide Lacey's mom with whatever comfort he could but then he was going to get out of there and he wasn't going to look back. Danny clung tightly to that plan of action as he exited his car and joined Lacey on the porch.

She called out to her mother as she slipped through the front door with Danny following closely on her heels, expecting that Judy might still be upstairs in bed. Both Danny and Lacey were surprised when Judy Porter emerged from the living room, in yoga pants and a rumpled sweatshirt, devoid of makeup and looking entirely weary but otherwise clean and put together. She stopped short when she caught sight of Danny, her eyes filling with immediate tears.

"He's only in town for a short while, Mom," Lacey explained to her gently, "I thought maybe you had some questions for him about what happened."

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Mrs. Porter," Danny murmured thickly, "If I can do anything..."

Judy responded to that with a terse nod and motioned for him to follow her into the living room. Danny did as she indicated, his steps faltering slightly when he saw the numerous photo albums spread out across the coffee table with pictures of Clara in various life stages put on display. Even the television was paused on a home video featuring the late Clara Porter. A birthday party, Danny presumed, if the streamers, balloons and silly hats were any indication. The image was frozen on Clara making a funny face with crossed eyes at the camera. Danny inhaled a deep, shuddering breath and sank down in the empty space beside Judy. Lacey continued to hover in the doorway, watching the two of them with baited breath.

"What do you want to know?" Danny asked her softly.

Judy's words were thick and coarse when she spoke, indication that she had been crying before they arrived. "Why was she driving your car that night?"

"She asked to drive it," he said, "I had gotten into a fight with a friend of mine and my eyes were a little swollen. She didn't think I'd be able to see the road very well so she volunteered to drive."

"Somehow I doubt you had to twist her arm about it," Judy grunted with a nostalgic smile, "She was always looking for an excuse to drive someone else's car."

"She did a good job that night. She obeyed all the traffic signs, she used her turn signals. She even went the speed limit." Judy regarded him with a dubious side-eye. "Well, most of the time," Danny amended sheepishly.

"What about when you had the accident?" she pressed, "How did it happen? Why did it happen? Was she distracted? Did someone cut you off? Did she just lose control?"

Danny glanced over at Lacey, not really certain he should share his theories on car tampering with her distraught mother. The small nod Lacey gave him was fair indication that she agreed with him. "I don't really remember the details of the accident," Danny told her truthfully, "I can remember this moment when Clara and I were in the car, listening to music and then the next thing I knew I was in the hospital in the worst pain of my life."

"You were in pretty bad shape," Judy agreed, "I told Lacey that she should stay with you in the ICU but she didn't want me to be alone after..."

It was only at that moment that Danny realized Judy Porter knew nothing about his positive toxicology report or suspected drug use. Lacey had clearly kept that bit of knowledge from her mother and Danny could only imagine one reason why she would have done so. She had been trying to protect him. Even when she had hated him and thought the absolute worst of him, she hadn't wanted her mother to think badly of him too. Maybe she had done it to spare her mother more pain or even to shield herself from acknowledging what a poor decision she had made in loving him. But, whatever her reason, Danny was grateful for her discretion.

"...Your father sent us a nice care package after it happened," Judy was telling him presently, "I never had the opportunity to thank him."

"I'm sure that's not necessary. He just wanted to help," Danny reassured her, highly cognizant of the cynical face that Lacey was making at his back.

"You should stay for dinner," Judy declared suddenly, "I'm going to make dinner tonight and you should stay and eat with us. I know Lacey would like that. _I_ would like that."

"I...uh...I don't know," Danny hedged, "My grandparents are expecting me back and I've already stayed longer than I was intending, so..."

"You should have my mom's spaghetti," Lacey suggested softly, "You haven't lived until you've had her spaghetti and meatballs. It was Clara's favorite."

Judy swiveled around to favor Lacey with a tired smile. "You think you'd like the spaghetti?"

"All the stuff is in the refrigerator if you feel like making it."

Her mother nodded enthusiastically and shifted to her feet. "I'll get started then. I'll even make some garlic bread to go with it."

After she had ambled off, mumbling her intentions for the meal to herself, Danny shifted around to regard Lacey with a stern frown. "Why are you doing this? You know I can't stay."

"You don't get it," Lacey said in a quivering tone, "She doesn't cook. She hasn't cooked in months. She works and she sleeps and that's it. This is the most alive I've seen her in weeks. Please don't take that away from me, Danny."

Having his plans to depart thwarted yet again, Danny resigned himself to his fate and followed Lacey into the kitchen to assist her mother with dinner. He was, of course, fairly hopeless having never cooked a single meal for himself in his entire life. He had trouble differentiating the various cooking utensils which seemed to amuse Judy and Lacey to no end. They laughed uproariously when Judy asked for her melon baller and was subsequently passed a spatula, a pair of tongs and finally an ice cream scoop. It wasn't very long before Danny found himself laughing as well.

Dinner also proved to be a great deal more enjoyable than he had been expecting. Judy regaled them with countless tales of Clara's childhood foibles and teenage stunts. She discussed the secret nuances of her spaghetti and meatball recipe and finished by raving over Lacey and how proud she was of her. By the end of it, Judy Porter seemed exhausted but also happy. She excused herself from the table to go to bed with Lacey's promise to clean up the remnants of dinner. Before she disappeared upstairs, she said to Danny, "You don't have to be such a stranger. Come by here whenever you want."

He didn't know how to tell her that he didn't plan to come by there ever again so he simply nodded and thanked her for her kindness. Once she was gone, he and Lacey cleared the table together. "Thank you for staying," she told him when they were busy loading the dishwasher.

"Thank you for inviting me," he replied, "But I should probably get on the road now." Danny started to turn away when she called his name. He paused mid-step with a low grunt of consternation. "Lacey, stop trying to prolong this."

"Can you blame me?" she asked with bittersweet smile, "This _is_ our last day together after all."

"Right. It is."

"So I have one last request."

"What's that?"

"Dance with me."

Danny choked out a dubious laugh at the suggestion. "Yeah...no. Not gonna happen."

"Why not?" He held up his cane for emphasis as if that were answer enough. Lacey rolled her eyes. "Oh, give me a break. You seem to move around just fine without it. I don't even know why you still use it. And don't give me some crap about not knowing how to dance because I know better, Danny."

"It's been a really long time. I'm out of practice."

"So what? It's just the two of us here."

"Ask for something else."

Lacey crossed her arms stubbornly. "Nope. That's what I want. I want to dance with you. So, you gotta give it to me."

"No, I don't."

"Do it for my dead sister then," she entreated irreverently.

"Oh wow. You pulled the dead sister card. That's really low, Lace."

She shrugged. "Desperate times. Besides, I'm pretty sure Clara would approve."

Somehow Danny didn't doubt that she would. He stared at Lacey in exasperation as if felt himself being pulled into her argument. She wiggled her eyebrows invitingly, incurring his laughing eye roll. "This is stupid," he huffed, "There's no music."

Lacey tsked him for being of such little faith and ran to retrieve her cell phone. When she returned she had pulled up her Pandora app and selected a slow-groove R&B station. The soft, mellow strains of old school rhythm and blues began to fill the kitchen. Lacey raised her hands and made a "come closer" gesture to Danny. He obstinately remained rooted in place.

"This is a slow song," he accused her tightly.

"I never said what kind of dance I wanted," she replied archly, "Now get over here, Desai, and show me your moves." He set aside his cane and complied, albeit with a low round of irritated grumbling and stiffly took her into his arms, his expression one of militant determination. "Is this the best you can do?" she teased him, "You look like you're about to face a firing squad."

"I'm dancing, aren't I?"

"Dragging your dead leg around in a circle does not count as 'dancing,' Danny."

Against his better judgment, he cracked a small smile at her cheeky needling. "Shut up," he growled at her with a forced scowl.

"Oh, somebody's grumpy. You usually only get like that when you haven't had se-,"

"-Don't finish that sentence," he ordered her sternly, "Just focus and dance so I can get out of here."

"Is this really so painful for you?" Lacey quietly scrutinized his struggle to keep his features impassive as they swayed together. "Why are you trying so hard not to have a good time with me?" she wondered aloud, "Would you rather I made you miserable instead?"

He shook his head and looked away from her. "It's not that."

"Then what is it?"

"You make me happier than I can explain but I don't want you to," he whispered, his voice hoarse and trembling as he spoke, "I don't want to have a good time with you, Lacey. I don't want to hold you close to me. I don't want to smell your skin or touch you. I don't want to know how your body feels against mine."

The way his voice quavered with each utterance made it clear that he felt the exact opposite. "Why not?" Lacey whispered fervently.

Danny looked at her then and, in that instant, Lacey could plainly everything he felt for her reflected in the swirling depths of his eyes. "Because it makes it even harder for me to let you go."

She kissed him then. Without thought or plan, Lacey leaned forward and gently brushed her mouth across his. They both froze in the aftermath. She was surprised that he didn't bolt immediately. He was surprised that she had kissed him at all. But all the shock and confusion was soon replaced by the irresistible urge to do it again. And so they did. Longer that time, deep and searching, their bodies shifting closer as they gave themselves over to the kiss completely. But the instant Lacey dared to flip back the buttons on his shirt and slip her hands underneath to touch his bare skin, Danny regained his senses and stepped away from her.

He raised a shaking hand to his mouth, his lips still tingling with the aftereffects of their aborted kiss. "That shouldn't have happened," he whispered in dismay, "I didn't mean for that to happen."

"But it _did_ happen," Lacey whispered back, "So what are you going to do about it?"

"Lacey, stop this."

"I won't stop," she retorted, taking a tentative step forward, "I think you want to do it again, Danny. So why don't you?"

Lacey watched him wage the inner battle to stay or leave, confident that she had won as evidenced by the depth of his indecision. She was stunned and heartbroken, however, when he quickly readjusted his clothing, stooped to retrieve his cane and simply walked away instead.


	41. Chapter Forty

**Chapter Forty**

Mimi dogged Danny's every step as he darted from one corner of his room to the other to gather articles of clothing together for his overnight bag. His determination remained despite her misgivings. He didn't break his stride a single time which caused Mimi to wring her hands fretfully.

"Are you sure you want to do this alone?" she asked him another countless time, "Your grandfather and I should come with you."

He shook his head brusquely. "I already told you that I don't even plan to be in Green Grove very long. I just need to make sure he's okay."

"Call the police," Mimi suggested, "I'm sure they would be more than willing to stop by the house and make sure that Vikram hasn't done anything desperate. There's no reason for you to make the trip in the middle of the night!"

"I'm pretty sure the last thing my dad wants or needs is to have more cops show up at his door." He zipped his bag shut and headed for the door. "Mimi, I'll be fine."

She was making serious consideration of tackling him to the ground in that moment. Truthfully, she _had been_ thinking about doing so ever since he'd received that drunken, distress call from his good-for-nothing father. She wasn't surprised that Danny had been moved by his father's pleadings for him to return home even after the callous way Vikram had been treating him ever since he had come to live with them. He was barely twenty years old and he had spent practically his entire life begging his father to love him, to _see_ him, hoping that if he was the ideal son it would happen. Even after Vikram had disowned him, it seemed that desire still remained. Apparently, old habits truly did die hard.

As for Mimi, however, she could only see disaster looming if Danny went. Following Tara Desai's recent arrest and the enumeration of the crimes she'd committed that had prompted that arrest (events of which Mimi had been completely ignorant), her household had been thrown into chaos. It was only when Tara was taken into custody for initial questioning and the media descended on their home that Mimi and Cam were given their first real glimpse into the sort of childhood their grandson had endured and, for them, Danny life had been nothing less than a nightmare.

Danny, however, reacted to all that happened with a stoic face. If he was elated or upset about Tara's arrest, he didn't show it. For him, the past happened, there was no changing it and he simply wanted to move on. He didn't want to discuss his feelings. He didn't want to discuss what happened to him. He didn't want to talk about Tara Desai period which, of course, frightened his already anxious grandparents all the more. Their young grandson was so deep in denial that he couldn't see his way out. He couldn't perceive how severe his emotional scars truly were because they had been with him for so long that they seemed like a part of him.

The next natural step had been to gently suggest therapy to Danny, something that had been expressed to them months before when they first liberated Danny from the hospital. But, back then, he had said he was fine and they had wanted to believe he was fine so no one pushed him about talking to a psychologist. Mimi realized in hindsight that had been a mistake. Perhaps if they had done that, Vikram Desai wouldn't still maintain the dangerous hold on his son that he did. Perhaps if they had, Danny wouldn't be walking back into a den of liars, thieves and murderers...

"Don't look at me like that," Danny sighed wearily, noting the growing apprehension creeping across his grandmother's features, "I know what you're thinking and you're wrong. He's not going to talk me back into coming home. Just because he says he needs me now, that doesn't mean that _I_ need _him_."

"But you're going back there," she pointed out needlessly.

"You didn't hear him on the phone, Mimi. I've _never_ heard him like that. I can't just ignore him when he needs me."

"He did the same to you," Mimi pointed out softly.

Danny masked his wince of pain at that and simply shrugged instead. "Then I guess that means I'm nothing like him. You should be relieved. The Desai family is full of really sick bastards apparently."

Mimi threw up her hands. "This isn't the time for jokes, Danny!"

"Do I look like I'm laughing?"

"Why does it have to be you? I'm sure Vikram has other people who would be willing to take care of him," she argued stubbornly, "You don't have to be the one, Daniel."

He snapped to attention. "Don't do that!" he bit out harshly causing Mimi to flinch in surprise, "Don't call me 'Daniel.' Tara always called me that and I hate it!" His expression softened when he saw how stricken his grandmother was by his admission. "Just...Danny is fine," he amended contritely.

"Those people have made you hate your own name," she uttered in disbelief, "a beautiful name, a name that was given to you by your mother and you wonder why I'm upset that you're going back to that?"

"I'm not 'going back to that,'" Danny corrected her in a quiet tone, "I'm helping the man who fathered me, the man who _raised_ me, whether you think he did a good job of that or not. Maybe this is my way of achieving some closure from it all."

While that was partly true, Danny's motives weren't entirely altruistic or even driven by the need for closure. His determination to return to Green Grove wasn't due to Vikram alone, although having his father call him at 2:30 in the morning and imply that he had nothing left to live for was compelling enough, but Danny was also hoping to see Lacey again. Since their last interaction, he hadn't been able to get her or that kiss they shared out of his mind. She plagued his waking hours and haunted his dreams. He thought about that day more than he cared to admit, even obsessing over it to a point.

However, Danny wasn't naive. He knew very well that he had blown it with Lacey when he walked away from her after that kiss. She had been fighting for him up until that very moment, until he finally convinced her that there was nothing left to fight for. He was pretty certain that she would never talk to him again after what he had done and, ironically, that was exactly the reason he had done it. Danny knew that Lacey would never give up on him unless he made her hate him first.

And he did so she had. She hadn't called or written or texted him in weeks. It turned out that their last day together really _had_ been their last day.

That didn't mean Danny was celebrating his success, however. Far from it. The reality that he had lost Lacey for good ate a hole in his gut. He had been a virtual asshole to anyone who had the misfortune of being in his surly presence ever since. Every time the phone rang, he jumped and his heart would race with the wild hope that Lacey might be calling him. Danny knew it wasn't fair. After all, _he_ was the one putting all the stipulations on what they could and could not be to one another and _he_ was the one rejecting her. But, that didn't mean there wasn't a part of him that wasn't secretly hoping she would persist regardless, that she wouldn't stop loving him.

Of course, calling her after all of that was out of the question. And, she definitely wasn't going to call him either. The only real opportunity he had of seeing her again would be a "chance" meeting somewhere, an incidental crossing of paths. That could only happen if he was back in Green Grove. In that respect, Vikram's call had been proven to be an unexpected godsend and Danny was determined to use it to his advantage. He didn't want to think too closely on what that said about him.

"Are you sure you don't want us to come with you?" Mimi asked again as she followed him down the stairs and continued to trail him as he headed for the front door.

Danny rounded on her with a good-natured huff. "Mimi, stop hovering. I'm going to be okay. I'm not a little kid."

"I know that." Mimi framed his face in her hands and pressed a sound kiss to his forehead. "But I look at you and I see a little boy. I see _Karen's_ little boy and I want to protect you, especially since I've done such a poor job of it up until now."

He gently shrugged out of her hold in hopes of softening the sting of his rejection. "That's not your fault. You and Cam did all that you could."

"If we had known the life you were living, we would have stolen you away, Danny. The law be damned."

"And then what? Spent the rest of your life on the run? For me?" Danny shook his head at the consideration. "No way. You would have missed out on watching Charlie and Rico grow up. You would have missed your son. You would have given up everything and that wouldn't have been right. I think everything worked out the way it was supposed to."

"That you can say that after everything you've endured fills me with admiration for you but it also scares me to death," she whispered, "It makes me question how much you value yourself, Danny."

Rather than addressing her concerns, Danny lurched forward to press a quick kiss to her temple. "I promise I'll bring your car back in one piece."

The drive ahead of him was nearly six hours long and it afforded Danny with plenty of time to think. Mimi's undue concern niggled at him, mostly because he too felt a measure of unease about returning to Green Grove. He didn't particularly know what he expected to find once he reached his childhood home but he was relieved to know he wouldn't have to deal directly with Tara. She was likely to stay behind bars until she could be arraigned the following afternoon and, by then, he planned to be long gone from that house. That should give Danny with plenty of time to confront his father about everything, particularly the last six months and then sever ties with Vikram Desai for good.

Danny had long ago given up the notion that he and Vikram would ever have a typical father-son relationship but he had always hoped that they could one day, without Tara's insidious presence as a constant, at least become friends. Now there was every likelihood that Tara Desai would spend the rest of her life behind bars, with the _least_ of her crimes being embezzlement, insider trading and bribery. She would never see freedom again. Danny couldn't help that marvel at the irony that just as Tara was finally being removed from his life for good, he would want nothing more to do with his father.

For years, he had blamed Tara for the lack of closeness between him and Vikram. He had blamed Tara for undermining Vikram's skills as a parent. He had blamed Tara for controlling his father. Now, in hindsight, Danny could clearly see that Vikram had _allowed_ all of those things. He had handed over full control of his life to Tara at his own son's expense. Danny might have been able to forgive Vikram for being so blindly loyal but he could never forgive Vikram for practically offering him up as a sacrifice to his tormenter. Not ever.

It was a little after 9:30 in the morning when Danny finally arrived in Green Grove and, by then, he was thoroughly exhausted, running practically on adrenaline fumes. Still, in spite of his fatigue, he went straight to the house rather than securing a hotel room for the day as his grandmother had suggested to him. He wasn't being intentionally defiant. Mostly, he was motivated by his desire to be done before Tara was released later that day. After that, he could use the rest of his time plotting out a feasible way of "running into" Lacey without being too obvious.

He wasn't surprised when he had to wind his way through a sea of reporters in order to reach the security gate but firmly ignored their rapid fire questions as he punched in the security code. He hoped devoutly that his father had not changed it. A few seconds later, Danny breathed a sigh of relief when the wrought iron gates swung open.

Driving up to the house felt eerie and strangely unfamiliar. Although he had made the same drive nearly every day of his life for nineteen years, the moment felt wholly foreign to him now. He didn't belong there, he realized, and he had never belonged there. All of his life he had known it but he had been able to accurately describe the feeling. Now Danny understood why he had never felt at home there and the realization filled him with a curious sort of peace. He knew without a doubt that he could let go because there was nothing at all there to hold him.

Sighing in resignation, Danny cut the engine and exited the car. He paused at the entrance of the house one last time, sucked in a deep breath and finally entered. The interior of the house was dim and gloomy due to the fact none of the curtains had been pulled to let in the morning light. Danny found that strange because Lepa and the cleaning staff usually did that every morning shortly after the sun came up. Upon that thought Danny slowly came to realize that none of the staff seemed to be present either. The house was oddly empty.

Mildly concerned, Danny called out intermittently to Vikram as he navigated his way through the house slowly, careful to step over the random articles of clothing and shoes that littered the floor. After a few moments of calling his father's name, Danny finally detected a low, rumbling groan from inside Vikram's private study. He quickly ducked inside to find Vikram sprawled face down on the floor, surrounded by empty bottles of bourbon.

Danny stooped down to check his pulse and, upon ascertaining that it was a strong one, flipped a limp and intoxicated Vikram onto his back. The smell of alcohol rolled off of him in waves so powerful Danny was made briefly dizzy by the fumes. He slapped at Vikram's cheeks insistently, gradually increasing the force until Vikram finally parted his lids and looked up at him with bleary eyes.

"Dad, why are you on the floor? Where is everyone?"

"Tara's gone. Lepa's gone. Danny's gone," Vikram slurred mournfully, "I'm all alone now."

"You're not alone, Dad. I'm here," Danny said in between hoisting Vikram into a sitting position, "I need you to wake up for me and tell me what's going on."

When he received little more than incomprehensible muttering in response, Danny left Vikram briefly to retrieve several bottled waters from his father's dry bar in the hopes that some hydration would help perk Vikram up. He returned to find Vikram sprawled across the floor anew, snoring loudly. Danny grunted out an aggravated curse under his breath and once again struggled to get his father into an upright position so that he could put a water bottle to his lips and force him to drink.

"You need to sober up," he said when Vikram tried to resist him in favor of sleep, "Drink up. You're probably dehydrated as hell." Vikram proved that theory by guzzling a full bottle of water and then half of the second in short order. But when he tried to lie down again after he was finished Danny wouldn't let him. "No. You need to talk to me. What's going on? Where the hell is Lepa? The house is a disaster."

"Lepa's gone," Vikram said again, "She's in jail. She's in jail with my Tara."

Danny froze at the news. "What are you talking about? Was Lepa arrested?"

Vikram stared up at him with an inebriated grimace. "I don't believe she poisoned you. Do you believe she poisoned you?" he mumbled drunkenly, "But that's what she said, Danny. That's what she said..."

"Come on. Get on your feet," Danny urged, "You need to sleep this off."

He helped an unsteady Vikram shift to his feet, wishing in that moment that he had brought his cane with him. He had made enough progress in his physical therapy to maintain his balance without it but doing that while holding another person upright as well was a tricky feat, especially when that person was practically dead weight. Danny managed to stumble only a few steps to the burgundy leather couch near the entrance of his father's office before he was forced to deposit a sagging Vikram there. Vikram crashed against the cushions haphazardly but Danny was too tired to straighten him immediately.

Vikram blinked up at his panting son with liquor clouded eyes. "Are you going to stay with me now?" he asked as he started to drift off into unconscious once more.

"I'm here for the moment, Dad," Danny replied gruffly, "That's all I can promise." But Vikram didn't hear a word of that. He was already out cold. Danny collapsed at the edge of the sofa to take a moment to catch his breath. He had no idea what the hell he was going to do next and his thoughts were swirling.

When he had been informed by Green Grove Police that they were going to execute an arrest warrant for Tara, he hadn't thought to ask the reason why. He had merely assumed that they had acquired enough sufficient evidence to charge her with a crime. What particular crime hadn't mattered to him as long as she was going to jail. Not once had he anticipated that Lepa would be the one to confess all of Tara's dirty deeds. Perhaps the letter he had written to her while he was in rehab had pricked her conscience after all. Whatever the reason, she had spoken up and ended his lifelong nightmare. He regarded his snoring father with a woeful glance. But had, apparently, triggered his father's in the process.

Determined to distract himself from worrying about what would happen to Vikram after Tara was indicted and serving a life sentence in prison, Danny busied himself with tidying up the house and dispelling the dreariness that had settled within by letting in the daylight. Based on the obscene amount of bourbon Vikram had likely imbibed, Danny was certain his father would be unconscious for some time to come. That might afford him with a little time to catch a nap himself. Since Vikram would likely be the one to pick Tara up after she was released, Danny figured he had a little time to crash.

He had just finished putting together a makeshift pallet for himself on the living room sofa when the intercom buzzed, signaling that there was a visitor at the gate. Instantly wary and fearful that he had miscalculated when Tara might arrive, Danny crept forward to inspect the video feed. Seconds later, he slumped forward with surprised relief when he saw that it was Lacey.

Danny pressed the intercom button to talk to her. "Hey. What are you doing here?"

Lacey peered into the camera with a beleaguered expression. "Can I explain that to you inside? The natives are getting restless out here." From somewhere behind her he could easily discern the insistent shouts of the reporters camped outside the gate, no doubt harassing her.

"I'm buzzing you in now," he said and, as soon as he finished unlocking the gate, went around to the front door to await her arrival.

He leaned in the open doorway and watched her approach with eager eyes, trying to calm the near uncontainable excitement he felt from her unexpected visit. However, he could tell from her expression as she climbed from her car that she wasn't nearly as happy about seeing him as he was about seeing her. Danny found that curious since _she_ was the one who had sought him out.

"Hey," he said again as she made her approach.

"Hey."

Danny spread his arms wide in a questioning gesture. "So? What are you doing here?"

Lacey grunted. "I've been asking myself that same question the entire drive over here. When I figure out the answer, I'll let you know."

He had to bite back his reactive smile at how annoyed she sounded. "Do you want to come in?"

"Sure."

After he closed the door behind him, he led her into the living room so that they could have some measure of privacy while they talked. They were far enough away that their conversation shouldn't disturb Vikram but Danny was also close enough to hear should Vikram awaken and need anything. He gestured for Lacey to have a seat but she was too distracted by the presence of his overnight bag and the bedding laid across the sofa to do so.

She rounded on him incredulously. "Don't tell me you're staying here now! Please tell me you're not going to forgive your dad just like that! He doesn't deserve it, Danny!"

"That's not why I'm here. This is just a short visit," he explained quickly, "My dad called me last night and he was talking all kinds of craziness. I was worried about him. I thought he might hurt himself if I didn't agree to come home...so I came home. That's it."

"Where is he now?" Lacey asked warily.

"In his office, sleeping off a drunken binge that even puts _me_ to shame."

"Oh. I see."

Danny regarded her quizzically when she seemed to be at a sudden loss for words. "How did you know I was here?"

"I saw the news report on television," she said, "They showed a clip of you pulling up to the gate. The media has been having a field day ever since news of Tara's arrest broke."

"Yeah, they've been all over my grandparents for a while too." He frowned when a sudden thought occurred to him. "They haven't been bothering your family, have they?"

"A little. But not as much as Jo and her family," Lacey told him, "The Mastersons are getting bombarded wherever they go."

Danny blinked at her in stunned silence. "You...you talk to Jo?"

She shrugged, as if dismissing the magnitude of that fact. "We see each other at the hospital sometimes. It's inevitable that we'll talk on occasion. We've developed a grudging tolerance for each other. That's all. It's not a big deal. It's not like we're friends or anything!"

"Sure," Danny said, refraining from pointing out that her rampant protestations seemed to say otherwise, "So she's volunteering again?"

"Yeah, she is."

"That's good."

"I think so too. We need more doctors."

They descended into a painfully tense silence then. Lacey studied the toe of her shoes while Danny stuffed his hands deep into his pockets. They each had things they wanted to say to one another but both were reluctant to start. In the end, it was Danny who shattered the quiet between them by asking, "Did you really come all the way out here to make small talk with me, Lacey?"

"I came out here, Daniel Desai," she enunciated in a slow, deliberate way that indicated she was about to let him have it, "because I was worried about you being in this house again and-,"

"-Lacey-,"

"-I didn't want you to be alone even though you've been a supreme asshole to me for months now-,"

"-Lacey-,"

"-constantly ignoring my calls, kissing me and then walking away and making me so wrapped up in _your_ pain that I ignore my own-,"

"-Lacey-,"

"-but despite all of that, I still can't stop caring about you, you selfish jerk!" she finished in an infuriated rant, "You want to know why I'm here? _That's why I'm freaking here!_ "

"I was going to say that I'm glad you came," he grunted softly, "I didn't want to be alone today. So thank you."

Rather than being disarmed by his tender words, Lacey glared at him. "I really hate you right now."

Danny digested that with an ironic huff. "Okay."

"And you look like hell, by the way."

"Well, I've been up for nearly twenty four hours straight now," he said, "That tends to wear on a person." It didn't escape his attention that her eyes were beginning to well with tears.

"You really aggravate the hell out of me, do you know that?" she charged in teary wrath.

"I'm beginning to get an idea," he said slowly.

"Do you ever think about _anyone_ besides yourself?"

"That's not fair! Every decision I've made these last few months has been for you, Lacey!"

"No, they've been for _you_!" she retorted angrily, "Because _you_ feel bad and _you_ feel guilty! Because _you're_ in pain! Because _you_ decided you're no good for me!"

"No!" he flared, " _You_ decided! _You_ said that! All I did was agree!"

" _MY SISTER DIED!_ " she screamed hysterically, "She died and not ten hours after it happened, _while you were in surgery_ , I find out that you tested positive for drugs! Do you have any idea how I felt, Danny? What was going through my head right then? It was the worst feeling in the world."

"I know that," he uttered in a tear thickened voice, "And I'm sorry."

"No, you don't know," she muttered brokenly, "I've needed you too, Danny! These last few months have been awful and I've needed you but you were too busy wallowing in self-pity to think of that and I hate you for it! I know _why_ you did it and I get that but I still hate you for it!"

As she started to break down, Danny didn't wait for her to dissolve into tears completely but stepped forward to take her into his arms. Her reaction was volatile and immediate. She shoved him backwards, hard enough to make him stumble. "Don't touch me," she seethed, "You don't get to touch me now."

He regarded her with wet, beseeching eyes. "Lacey, I just want..." Danny stopped mid-sentence, belatedly realizing the truth in Lacey's earlier accusations. He was making it about himself. And, right then, it couldn't be about him. None of it could be about him. It had to be about Lacey. "Please..." he whispered, "Can I hold you? If...if you want me to...can I just hold you?"

Danny braced himself for her rejection but wasn't prepared for the moment when she collided against him, hugging him hard. He returned her embrace just as tightly, holding her fast against him as she wept out months and months of bitterness, fear, anger and pain into his shoulder. She cried until he was almost sure that she had no tears left and then she cried some more. It felt like an eternity before her harsh sobs began to die down into soft hiccups and by then Danny was crooning against her ear and placing gentle, comforting kisses against her shoulder.

When she lifted her head to look at him, her lashes dark and shiny with tears, Danny knew he was going to kiss her. Lacey didn't try to stop him but parted her lips in anticipation. Their mouths brushed together in a tentative caress, once, twice before the kiss deepened and gained momentum and exploded altogether. They came together in a flash of sudden need, clumsily peeling away clothing in between frantic, haphazard kisses. When they were skin to skin, they found their way to the widened cushions of the Desai sofa, their reason obliterated by the singular desire to join their bodies, to come together...

Soon the living room was filled with the sounds of their serrated breathing and low moans of pleasure. They clung to each other, their bodies moist with perspiration as they writhed furiously against one another in tandem, consumed by the need to be filled up completely. When his orgasm finally took hold, Danny felt the jolt throughout his entire body. He bunched his fingers in Lacey's hair and curled into her body. He bit into her shoulder to keep from crying out as he emptied into her again and again, hardly aware of Lacey's nails digging into his back as she rode out her own climax with him.

After it was over, he flipped onto his back with a weary grunt and positioned Lacey's wilted frame atop of him so that he could scoot away from the sofa edge. Once they were situated more comfortably, Lacey shifted around and propped herself against his chest. She peered at him in silence while Danny lazily twirled his fingers loosened tendrils of her hair.

Finally, she asked in a shaky whisper, "Is this the part where you tell me you regret it? Because I really don't want to ruin this moment by punching you."

He regarded her with heavy lidded eyes, a small smile ghosting the corners of his mouth. "Now don't get all violent on me. This is actually the part where I tell you I'm exhausted and I need a nap." She didn't doubt it. His eyes had already sank closed with fatigue and every word he spoke was punctuated by a long yawn. "I'm going to sleep now," he mumbled.

Lacey choked back her responding laugh. "Oh, okay."

"You wore me out."

"I think you were probably 'worn out' before we started."

Danny smiled again. "True. But you didn't help."

Lacey watched him yawn once more, noting the way his breathing was beginning to slow and even. "Do you want me to go?" She didn't want to leave but she also knew she wasn't going to get much conversation out of him if she stayed either. Then there was also the possibility that _he_ didn't want her to stay. Danny, however, put all her worry to rest with two simple words.

"No," he said, already drifting as he tugged her closer for a snuggle, "Stay."


	42. Chapter Forty One

**Chapter Forty One**

Lacey was abruptly awakened by the sound of breaking glass and someone bellowing Danny's name. She lurched upright, shaking Danny awake as she did so. He contorted his body in a long, languorous stretch and squinted at her groggily. "What?" he demanded, his voice rough with sleep.

"I think your father's awake."

That statement dispelled any lingering drowsiness for Danny. He hastily scrambled upright and shot off the couch to fish around on the floor for his discarded clothing as his father's frantic shouts for him reached his ears. He had barely finished pulling on his clothing before Vikram came stumbling into the living room. Danny quickly intercepted him before he could get too far inside, shielding a still naked Lacey from being discovered. His father immediately enfolded him in an awkward hug.

"My son! My baby," Vikram cried, "You're here! You didn't leave me!"

It was clear from Vikram's drunken slur that he was still mostly intoxicated and could use more time sleeping it off. Danny started steering him back towards his office. "That's right," he said in an indulgent tone as he led Vikram along, "I'm still here and you're still drunk off your ass." His mind was already making short work of depositing Vikram back onto the sofa in his study and getting back to Lacey as fast as he could.

Vikram, unfortunately, had other plans. He suddenly lurched to a stop before they could reach the study. "Wait!" he cried in dismay, "What time is it?"

Danny checked the urge to groan aloud and tossed a quick glance to the grandfather clock at the opposite end of the hallway. "It's nearly noon," he said.

His father turned to regard him with doleful eyes. "Tara will be arraigned in an hour."

"I know that," Danny acknowledged tersely, "Don't worry. I'll be long gone by then. But you should have someone drive you to the courthouse. You can't be behind the wheel in this condition."

"No," Vikram protested, "I'm not going. I won't get her. She can stay in jail. She lied. She lied to me."

"What are you talking about, Dad?"

"She said she'd never do it again after that first time," he rambled on mournfully, "You're good and _she_ was good and I told Tara 'no!' I said no more and she promised and I believed her. I believed her because I love her but she lied to me."

Not wanting to hear anything further because he had no desire to be put in the middle whatever argument he'd had with Tara or sympathize with Vikram in any way, Danny nudged him forward again and directed him into his study. "I'm sure you and Tara will work out your differences," he determined after situating Vikram on the sofa once more, "You always do."

"It wasn't supposed to be like this," Vikram whispered as he slumped into unconsciousness once again, "I wanted them both you know..."

Danny stared down at his prone form with a mixture of frustration, confusion and exasperation. Time was quickly escaping his grasp. Tara would be granted temporary freedom soon and he had gotten none of the answers that had compelled him to come there in the first place. He had said none of the things to Vikram that he meant to say. Danny wondered if he would ever have the opportunity to say them.

"Is he sleeping now?" He glanced up at the question to find Lacey, now fully dressed, standing in the doorway, her forehead knit with a concerned frown.

"He's out again," Danny told her, "He probably won't be any good for a couple of hours still."

"Are you planning to stay here that long?"

Danny shook his head. "Tara is being arraigned at 1 pm. I don't want to be here when she gets released from jail but then I can't really leave him alone in this condition either. I don't know what I'm going to do."

"You need a break. Do you want to come and crash at my place for a while?" Lacey invited, "You've had a grand total of twenty minutes worth of sleep. You look exhausted." She paused for a moment, the air between them filled with telling silence before she said, "And after you've had a nap maybe you and I will finally have a real opportunity to talk."

His reluctance to have that conversation was stamped all over his face. "Lacey, I-,"

The instant she recognized the reserve in his tone, Lacey cut him off before he could say another word. "Nope. Too late. You can't say that you regret it now. You had your chance already."

"I don't regret it." But before her trembling smile could form completely at his reply, he added softly, "That doesn't mean I think it should happen again."

Lacey resisted the childish impulse to stomp her foot though just barely. "Are we really doing _this_ again?" she sighed in longsuffering exasperation, "I thought we had moved past this!"

" _We're_ not doing anything," Danny stressed, "Nothing's changed. I'm still no good for you, Lacey."

"Says who?" she challenged.

"Says _you_ actually.!"

"If you keep throwing my words back in my face I'm seriously going to rethink my decision not to punch you in the face," she warned him darkly.

"You said the words," he maintained stubbornly, "I can't forget that."

"Yes, when I was grieving and I thought the worst of you!" she cried in exasperation, "That has no bearing on what's happening between us now!"

"But it does have bearing," he insisted in furious whisper, highly aware of his sleeping father less than ten feet away, "You didn't just bring up Clara and the accident, Lacey. You brought up _all_ of it. You resent me for all of it. You would have never said all of that stuff if you didn't believe on some subconscious level that it was true."

She folded her arms in a defensive posture, her jaw tight with anger. "So we're back to what _you_ think again, are we? Great! At least you're consistent about it!"

"I know that's how it seems to you but I trying to act in your best interests here!" he argued fervently, "I don't make you happy. I wish to God that I did but I don't and I don't know if I ever have, not in this life or the last."

"That's not true. You make me happy." Her irritation with him was abruptly replaced with a shy, teasing smile. "You made me _very_ happy this afternoon in fact."

He almost smiled back at her. _Almost._ It took a force of will to keep his face straight. "That was sex."

"That was _you_ ," she insisted softly, "I could have had sex with anyone but I want to be with _you_ , Danny. You definitely make me happy."

"Come on, Lacey. I make you miserable and we both know it."

"So it's 50/50," she averred with a careless shrug, "I can live with that."

Danny nibbled at his lower lip in indecision. "I don't know if I can..."

"Well, don't make up your mind about it right now. You're sleep-deprived and a kind of cranky. I think you need to sleep on it for a while."

But he wasn't completely disarmed by her gentle teasing. There was part of him that wanted to be drawn in by her argument and wanted to believe they could be happy together. But there was a bigger part of him that knew better. They had tried and failed too many times in the past for Danny to believe there would be any other outcome. Consequently, her sweet words only left him feeling even more cynical and jaded than before.

"You have no idea how completely screwed up I am," he told her with the utmost seriousness, "If you knew what I _really_ felt and what I _really_ thought, you would run and not look back. I'm not going to let my guard down just for you to realize you can't handle being with me later."

"So you're actually protecting yourself, not me," she concluded with mild recrimination.

When the veracity of her charge dawned upon him he wasn't apologetic at all. "I guess I am."

"Then what the hell was earlier about? Why did you kiss me? Why did you _sleep_ with me if you don't want to be together?"

"I don't know!" he cried a little wildly, "That was not what I was after when I asked to hold you, Lacey."

"Then what _were_ you after?"

"I wanted to comfort you. I wanted you to know how sorry I was about Clara."

"You could have done that without using your dic-,"

"-Don't act like I forced you to do anything," he interrupted quickly, "You wanted it as much as I did. We _both_ made the decision to sleep together so don't try to shift all of the blame on me!"

"I'm not trying to shift the blame and I'm not blaming you," she prefaced calmly, "But it seems like you have a really bad habit of sleeping with girls and then deciding it's too much for you later."

"Wow," he breathed, snapping to attention at the thinly veiled mention of his regretful one-night-stand with Jo, "So you're really going to go there, huh?"

"I'm really going to go there," Lacey uttered without remorse.

"Okay, first of all, it's not remotely the same thing and you know that! But thank you for the comparison. That's great, Lacey. Leaves no doubt about how low your opinion is of me."

"Don't do that!" she hissed, "Don't turn this all around on me! You're the one who's throwing us away!"

Realizing he was starting to lose control of his carefully crafted veneer of indifference, Danny strode forward and snagged Lacey by the elbow to nudge her out into the hallway where he could scream at her without the fear of waking his father. "You see that's where you're wrong," he hissed angrily when they were alone, "There is no 'us' to throw away, Lacey! This has never been about me and what I want for us.

"You're the one who has all the power in this relationship," he ranted, "and you've had it from moment we started dating this time around! I come and go based on when you do and _don't_ want me, which changes from freaking week to week depending on how badly I screw up in your eyes!

"You've never been sure about us," he rattled on in accusation, "and maybe that's because, on some level, you sensed what a disaster it had been the first time around! Fine! Okay! I totally get your reasons but give me a freaking break! I know that you're the woman for me, Lacey. I've never had _one_ doubt about that but _I'm_ not the problem. _You_ are, because obviously I'm _not_ the man for you!"

Lacey was momentarily stunned into silence in the wake of his angry tirade. She had been after him to talk to her and to share his feelings but she hadn't been prepared for the depth of his resentment for her. But what hurt even worse than that was his apparent belief that she wouldn't stay with him, that she didn't love him enough to do so which couldn't be further from the truth.

"So who is?" she asked tremulously when she found her voice again, "If you're not the one for me then who is, Danny?"

"I don't know. Maybe you haven't met him yet or maybe you have and you won't let yourself see him because of all this crap that's in the way. Only you can answer that."

"And you can just watch me move on with another guy?" she challenged, "You won't care if I fall in love with someone else, maybe even marry him and have babies with him? You're fine with that?"

"I don't guess I have much choice, do I?"

Lacey whimpered at his answer. "Don't you trust me at all, Danny?"

"Hell no," he answered with stunning alacrity, "Not even a little bit." While Lacey sputtered in shock at his unreserved admission, Danny went on to clarify his words. "Listen, I trust you to love me the best way you can and to stand by me as long as you're able to do so. I trust that you care about me. But I don't trust you to stay, Lacey, not for the long haul. You won't. You can't let yourself. And I can't let myself need another person just to lose them in the end. So this is the way it has to be."

"I don't think you're being fair to me at all."

"Maybe I'm not," he considered, "but then again life's not very fair." Danny averted his face then, unable to watch her cry. He knew he had done the right thing but that didn't make it any easier to look upon the devastation he caused while doing it. "You should go now."

He waited for the inevitable moment when she would storm out of the house but instead Lacey closed the distance between them and pressed a soft, sweet kiss to his jaw. Danny tensed a her nearness. His muscle twitched in response to her touch but he didn't dare look at her.

"You're a stubborn, self-centered jackass, Danny," she whispered against his ear, "If I haven't gone anywhere by now, what makes you think I _ever_ will?" She nuzzled against him, silently willing him to soften and when he didn't she pulled back with a disappointed sigh. "Well...if you decide to let yourself need me after all, you can come by my house any time. I'll leave my window open."

Only when he heard the front door close, signaling her departure, did Danny release the painful breath that had been suspended in his lungs. He slid into the wall behind him and down to the floor, physically and emotionally spent. With Lacey gone and his feelings so raw and close to the surface, Danny really wanted nothing more than to run back to New Haven and forget his life in Green Grove entirely. He wanted to obliterate his memory of Lacey completely because never having known her at all _had_ to be better than the visceral pain he was enduring right then. However, he knew that he would gain little solace by running or suppressing his emotions. His demons would remain.

He rolled to his feet and reentered his father's office in defeat. Vikram remained in the same position in which he had left him. Danny stared down at his sleeping father with a dissatisfied grunt. "I guess it's just me and you for now."

Danny didn't have a very clear plan for what he would do if Tara showed up at the house unannounced. She knew the passcode to the security gate and no doubt she still retained a key to the house. Short of an all out brawl, there was very little he could do to stop her from entering the house if that's what she wanted to do. But he did have the option to leave himself. If Tara did come home, he could leave the house with a clear conscience knowing that he had fulfilled his responsibilities as a son and that Vikram would be cared for in his absence. As for Tara, there was no need for him to engage her at all. Justice had already been served.

None of that meant Danny felt comfortable enough to fall asleep in that house again, however. He might be willing to stay until Tara arrived but there was no way he was going to be caught unaware when she did. So he went into the kitchen and fixed himself a snack. Later, when he had gathered together enough food, he positioned himself in front of the family room television to binge on junk food while trying not to think about Lacey and what they had done together one hour prior on the living room sofa.

Half a dozen sitcoms later, Tara still hadn't shown up nor had she called. One hour became two, then three then more until evening began to descend and Danny started to lose his fight against falling asleep. He slumped down into the sofa cushions and flipped disinterestedly through the television channels, struggling to remain awake and wondering vaguely when Tara was going to show up. The not knowing was beginning to make him more anxious than the thought of confronting her. He was seriously considering putting in a fruitless call to the courthouse in the hopes someone had remained there after hours to divulge her whereabouts when his father's voice sounded behind him.

"This seems like a familiar scene."

Danny set aside the television remote and lurched upright. He twisted a startled glance over his shoulder, surprised to find a grizzled Vikram leaning in the doorframe. "You're awake," he observed inanely.

Vikram responded to that with a wince and a groan. "I wish I wasn't," he mumbled, "My head is pounding like the devil."

"You need to drink something," Danny advised him, "Preferably something non-alcoholic. That will help a little with the headache." An uncomfortable beat of silence descended before Danny said, "Tara's not here yet. She hasn't called either."

"I hadn't expected her to call," Vikram replied, "We had an awful fight before her arrest." Danny didn't really know how to respond to that and he didn't want to know the details of the fight so he said nothing. His father, taking advantage of his son's pensive silence, shuffled further into the family room and collapsed into the closest chair. He regarded Danny with a look of naked gratitude. "I can't believe you're actually here."

"You asked me to come."

"I know that. I remember that much before I passed out. But I didn't think you'd actually show up, not after everything I've said and done to you."

"I almost didn't," Danny sighed, "But you sounded pretty bad off and, in spite of everything, you're still my father whether either of us likes it or not."

Vikram dragged his hand down his face with a weary grunt. "Oh, Danny...it's been one hell of a week."

"If this is the part where you start blaming me for ruining Tara's life, please save your breath! I don't want to hear a word of it."

"I wasn't going to do that," Vikram replied, "But maybe if you had spoken to me first-," Danny barked a disbelieving snort before Vikram could even finish that statement. His father wisely discontinued that particular argument then, easily sensing Danny's bitterness about it. "No matter. What's done is done," he sighed, "We can only move forward from here."

Danny's reaction to that was nothing short of dubious. "We?"

"Despite the rampant media attention, this remains a family matter, Daniel," Vikram reasoned, "I know that she was in the wrong here. But if you could let me explain to you why-,"

Disgusted to discover that his father had changed little during their prolonged time apart, Danny abruptly shifted to his feet then and brushed away the crumbs that clung to his lap. "Well, I can see that you're okay now, so I'm going to take off now."

His father regarded him with a surprised look. "That's it? You're not going to yell at me? Curse me out? Call me a liar and a fraud? I expected more fire from you, Danny. I can only imagine the stories Miriam and Cameron have put in your head."

"I didn't need their stories to form a bad opinion of you, Dad. You did a fine job of that on your own."

"So you _are_ angry with me," Vikram surmised knowingly.

"Actually, I'm not," Danny sighed, "I'm tired and I'm over it. There was a time when I thought you and I could have had a relationship, that we could have been close if only Tara wasn't in the picture. But Tara wasn't the problem. _You_ were the problem or rather your inability to actually consider my feelings before you did Tara's. But she was always your first choice. Now you gotta live with it."

He snagged hold of Danny's wrist as he passed by. Their eyes, so similar and yet so defiant in their opposition to one another, collided in an antagonistic stare filled with accusation, anger and even some regret. "She's complicated, Danny," Vikram grated, "What I _feel_ for her is complicated. She's a part of me. I don't expect you to understand."

Danny yanked from his hold with a revolted grimace. "She came on to me, Dad," he recounted flatly, "When I was in rehab, she came into my room in the middle of the night and climbed into bed with me and it wasn't the first time either. She wanted me helpless and the more helpless I was, the more she got off on it! _That's_ the woman you left me vulnerable to...that's the woman you say is a part of you!" he finished in an embittered whisper, "I'm going to hate you for the rest of my life for that." Danny didn't know why he was shocked when Vikram received that revelation with very little surprise.

"Right now you're blinded by your anger but if you knew our family," Vikram whispered sadly, "you'd understand why."

"I don't want to understand. If you're justifying what she did then you're as sick as she is! I just want to forget you and I want to forget her. This is it for me. I don't ever want to see you again, Dad."

Vikram dropped his head forward with a desolate sigh. "I'm sorry to hear that, Daniel."

"I don't think you are."

"Someday not too far into the future, you will look back on this day and understand exactly what kind of man I was, Danny. You'll know because you will be that _same_ man," Vikram predicted sadly, "It's your legacy and you can't escape it. I tried and failed...and so will you."

"I'll die first," Danny clipped and he meant the words utterly. He raked Vikram with one, final scathing glance before he announced, "We're done here. I'm going to get my things and then I'm leaving. Have a nice life, Vikram."

It was while Danny was gathering together his few belongings and preparing to beat a hasty exit out of there that the house phone began to ring. Danny froze in place, knowing almost instinctively that it was Tara calling. At first, he was determined not to care, especially when the ringing continued unanswered. However, when it stopped abruptly Danny felt the back of his neck prickle in alarm. His curiosity getting the better of him, he found himself going back the way he had come, following the faint strains of his father's voice. He stopped just outside of the family room to listen in on the already progressing, one-sided conversation.

"...I didn't want to see you," Vikram was saying, his tone terse and angry, "You know damned well why, Tara! ...that's no excuse! ...because I love him! ...we've been through this...no, I'm not doing this with you again! ...no, _you're_ the one who's being manipulative! You're just like our father." He paused a moment and when he spoke again his voice was strangely softer, mellow with contrition. "...don't say that. I didn't mean it. I was angry.

"...yes, because of Danny! Actually, he's here right now...in the house...because I _asked_ him, Tara! Jesus!" There was another long interval of silence before Danny heard him speak again. This time Vikram's tone was laced with defeat. "Nothing. He said he's done with me. He told me you went to his bed, Tara! Why would you do that? ...no, no, you knew better! He doesn't understand how it works!"

Another silence ensued, this time followed by Vikram's subdued tone. "...I don't know if I can. You know I still love you that's why this hurts so much. ...Stop it! It never meant you weren't enough for me...don't talk like that. Tara, listen to me...stop it! Stop saying that! Tell me where you are! I'll come! I swear it, just don't do anything foolish. Tell me where you are." Danny listened as Vikram fumbled around on his desk for something to write with. "Let me get a pen and paper..." he told Tara followed by a sharp, "Calm down! I'm not an idiot! I'll keep it with me. No one will know..."

Danny crept away from the threshold before he could hear anymore, his fertile mind already drawing the most likely conclusion that his father was probably going to help Tara run. The prospect filled Danny with nameless panic. The only thing he knew in that moment was that he couldn't allow that to happen.

While Vikram jotted down directions, Danny formulated a quick plan of action because he knew he had only a limited window of time in which to act and hastily gathered together his stuff before slipping from the house. He wanted to make sure he was concealed by the time Vikram left to find Tara and then, once he had, Danny had every intention of following him to wherever he went. Although he didn't have a complete picture of what was going on based on the half conversation he'd overheard, Danny wasn't going to take a chance that his aunt might evade justice, not now when he was so close to seeing her pay for everything she had done. _That_ was going to happen over his dead body.

After placing a quick call to his grandparents and informing them that his trip was going to take a little longer than he first anticipated, Danny pulled his car over to the adjacent street and waited patiently for Vikram's black Lexus ES to drive past. Not once in those ensuing minutes did Danny stop to consider the feasibility of his plan. He was too fearful that if he didn't act soon enough, Tara would escape. He couldn't allow her to take yet another thing from him, not after she had left him so emotionally destitute. Knowing that she would spend the remainder of her life in prison sometimes felt like the only thing Danny had left.

It didn't even matter to him that his father would be implicated in her crimes in the process. Danny could live with that. Vikram Desai had made his choice and now Danny had to make his. Determination set deep in his gut, Danny tensed when his father's headlights flashed as he rounded the corner after exiting the private driveway. As he sped past unaware, Danny shifted his own vehicle into drive and followed behind him.

As dusk began to fall, Danny wasn't too worried about raising his father's suspicions, even with the focused effort it required for him to keep time with Vikram's erratic lane changes. Danny suspected that Vikram was much too distracted with getting to Tara to take much notice of the unfamiliar car that trailed at a moderate distance in his wake. And his distraction worked to Danny's advantage. He managed to follow Vikram past Green Grove's city limits and beyond without his father seeming to notice that he was tailing him at all. It was easy not to be overly concerned by the distance that they were traveling because Danny's adrenaline was pumping and he could concentrate on little else other than thwarting any attempt Tara made to get away.

He honestly didn't start to ponder the wisdom of his actions until they had been on the interstate for nearly an hour and the number of cars traveling in their direction began to steadily dwindle until there were less than a dozen with them on the road. When they actually crossed the New York border into Pennsylvania Danny began to worry that he might have possibly bitten off more than he could chew. Vikram only traveled another forty-five minutes after that but Danny was still concerned when he noted the bright, green plains alongside the highway become bustling city streets and then those city streets calm into quiet, lakeside roads. By the time they made it into what appeared to be remote countryside they were practically the only two cars on the road.

By then Danny recognized how conspicuous it would be if he continued traveling in the same direction as his father, especially when they were in the middle of nowhere. Careful to take note of the surrounding roadside signs and whatever landmarks he could find, Danny watched as Vikram turned off the main road and disappeared into what looked to be nothing more than darkness and dense forest. Danny had to assume that there was something back there, however, because he couldn't imagine any other reason Vikram would drive into what could be aptly described as wilderness. He watched the car disappear from his periphery while he continued straight ahead. For a moment, he thought he saw the brief flash of Vikram's brake lights before he continued on his way.

Fearful that Vikram might be attempting to give him the slip, Danny pulled an illegal U-turn at his first opportunity and pulled his car to the unmarked road where Vikram had turned. Rather than turning in that same direction, however, Danny shut off his lights so as not to draw attention to himself and waited to see if Vikram would reappear. A few random cars zoomed past on the interstate in the interim but Vikram did not return. Satisfied that Vikram had likely reached his intended destination, Danny fished around in his pocket for his newly purchased cell phone and placed a call to 911.

Perhaps he had watched too many cop dramas on television but Danny _thought_ the call would yield quick results. After all, he was reporting a parole violation and possible bail jump in a high profile criminal case involving the only daughter of Aravinda Desai. She was being charged with everything from corporate espionage to attempted murder. Her face had been plastered all over the news for days now. He thought as soon as he mentioned her name he'd be promised the instant arrival of armored vehicles with full sirens and lights. Instead, he was told by an annoyed 911 dispatcher that, due to his lack of immediate emergency, he needed to place a call to the local police department.

Frustrated by the lack of action but undaunted nonetheless, Danny performed a quick Google search for the contact information he needed. Once again, he expected immediate action. Once again, he was thoroughly disappointed. To Danny's ever growing impatience, he was almost directly placed on hold and then transferred only to be placed on hold again, forced to repeat his story to no less than four different individuals before he finally was directed to a detective who took his claims seriously. Thirty exasperating minutes later, Danny's allegations were verified and he was, at last, assured that authorities would be en route shortly.

Yet, even with that reassurance, Danny still could not relax. He was too riddled with anxiety to even sit still. He couldn't stop worrying that, with all the time it took for him to convince police there was a problem, Tara and his father had been afforded with enough time to make a getaway. What if they were packed and already on their way out the door? What if there was an alternate escape route available for them other than the uneven, lonely road that led off into the woods? If they tried to run, there was little he could do to stop them short of blocking their exit with his car. Knowing Tara, she would just plow right through him. Danny's wasn't too eager to suffer through _another_ motor vehicle accident.

The officer to whom he had given his report had ordered him to stay put and wait for authorities but each minute Danny sat there watching the time tick by on the dash felt like an eternity. In his mind's eye, he could see Tara and his father narrowly escaping capture as the police arrived on the scene too late. That could _not_ happen. She _had_ to pay for what she _had_ done to him and to Jo but _especially_ for what she had done to Clara and her family.

It was ultimately that need to find justice for Clara that compelled Danny to climb from his car. Before his reason could reassert itself, Danny began the quick and careful trek down the uneven gravel road, sticking close to the rocky pathway. Eventually, after approximately five minutes of walking, he became aware of low light glowing in the distance. Danny was glad he had made the decision to go by foot rather than driving the car. He figured that if there was a camp or house or whatever back there, he would be far more stealthy approaching on foot than the noise he would have made if he crunched the gravel with his tires.

The more he walked, the more intense the light became until Danny was finally able to discern a tiny house in the distance. Despite how easily the light could be detected from where he stood, the cabin actually appeared to be situated on a steep hill and tucked much deeper into the woods than Danny anticipated. With his already shaky mobility, Danny's hike was made all the more difficult the sun had long ago set and without any nearby city lights the forested darkness surrounding him was made more intense. By the time Danny was certain he had made it at least halfway to his destination, he was forced to use his cell phone as a flashlight to guide his steps though he was careful to keep it low so as not to attract undue attention.

Approximately ten minutes later he crept up onto the small crest where the cabin was located and found both Vikram and Tara's cars parked haphazardly in a bare, dirt patch he supposed doubled as the driveway. It wasn't anything he hadn't expected to find but his heart still fluttered crazily in his chest when he spotted the vehicles. Now that he had found them, however, he knew he had to do everything in his power to make sure they couldn't leave. Danny quickly began rooting around on the ground for something with which to disable both cars. After finding a few jagged pieces of stone, Danny stooped to tear large, jagged holes in the rear tires on the sides opposite to the cabin door because he rightly figured that neither of them would get very far with irreparable flats.

After he was satisfied that he had done enough damage to render them immobile, at least by car, Danny straightened glanced back in the direction of the main road. He figured he would return to his own vehicle and continue to wait for the police to arrive there as he had been initially instructed. Now that he knew where his father and Tara were and knew for certain they couldn't go anywhere, except to take their chances with the elements, he could relax.

Danny hadn't taken two steps, however, when a sharp, crash erupted from interior of the house followed by what sounded like a low grunt of pain. His mind immediately veered to a dozen macabre scenarios, all of which included some kind of physical fight between his aunt and father. With a mixture of curiosity and concern, Danny lurched towards one of the cabin's lateral windows to gain a furtive peek inside.

When he snuck a glance inside, Danny half expected to find his father and aunt locked in a brutal altercation. What he saw instead shocked him into momentary paralysis. Tara and his father were indeed "locked" together but not in violence. Tara's long, bare legs wrapped around his father's naked waist, her loose skirts flowing around them as Vikram buried his face in her throat and pumped against her body in an unmistakably sexual rhythm.

Danny stumbled back from the window with a stunned, revolted whimper, inadvertently tripping over a bush in his rush to get out of there. The clamoring sound he made as he went down was loud and obvious and immediately alerted the attention of the incestuous lovers inside. Danny quickly scrambled to conceal himself just as a shirtless Vikram burst outside of the cabin, brandishing a handgun. Shaking with horror, Danny crouched low behind a swathe of shrubbery and tried to keep himself as quiet as possible, mentally calculating to himself how long it should be before the authorities arrived.

"...I thought you said you weren't followed here," he heard Tara hiss angrily.

"Would you calm down? I wasn't followed!" his father bit back in return, "It was probably an animal. We're out in the middle of the wilderness, Tara!"

"That's exactly why I chose to come here even though you know how much I despise it! I cannot go back to jail, Vikram."

"I told you I would take care of you, didn't I?" Danny heard Vikram whisper in reassurance, "We're together now. It will be alright."

In the ensuing silence, Danny could detect their shuffling footsteps as they searched the perimeter of the cabin. After what seemed to Danny like eons of time, Tara finally announced that they should go back inside and he slumped forward in relief. Still wary of their proximity, Danny remained vigilant and listened for their footsteps, anticipating the moment when he would hear the cabin door slam behind them. Just as he started to relax a little, however, he felt the sensation of cold steel being pressed to his skull. He rolled an unhappy glance upwards to find Tara glaring down at him with narrowed eyes.

"What do we have here? A family reunion?"

"Tara..."

"Animals don't tear large gashes in tires but _humans_ sure do."

"I don't want any trouble," Danny responded with a wary shake of his head, "I just want to get out of here."

"Too late for that, Daniel. Get up," she ordered shortly, "And keep your hands where I can see them."

Danny didn't dare to resist her but rolled to his feet obediently and kept his hands elevated, yielding to her tersely jerked nod to enter the cabin. He slid a look over to his father as he did so, highly cognizant of the fact that Vikram deliberately avoided his eyes as he trailed behind Tara like an obedient puppy. His silence couldn't have made it more obvious to Danny that he was complicit with the idea of his sister holding his only son at gunpoint. Danny had no idea why the realization left him feeling so hurt because Vikram's support wasn't anything he shouldn't have expected, but he was hurt regardless.

Once they were inside, Tara barked at Danny to take a seat. Keeping his eyes carefully trained on the gleaming barrel of her gun, Danny sat down in the first available chair he came to while his father took up an anxious pacing in the background. He only acknowledged Vikram briefly, however, because he wanted to keep alert to any sudden movement Tara might make.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked her.

"It's really quite ironic that you found us here," she trilled a little maniacally, "After all, this is where every Desai child comes to have their innocence shattered. Why should you be any different?"

"You're not going to get out of this, Tara," Danny warned her, "Don't make things worse for yourself by adding kidnapping and murder to the list."

"This is _your_ fault! I really hate that you've placed me in this position, Daniel," Tara grated harshly, "Your greatest problem has always been a lack of restraint."

"You're lecturing _me_ about restraint?" Danny cried incredulously, "Really? You're screwing your own brother! I don't think you have room to talk, lady!" When she backhanded him across the mouth he couldn't say he didn't see it coming. He licked at the pearl of blood that beaded on his lip and smirked at her nonetheless. "Why such aversion to the truth, Tara? Isn't that what you always ask me?" He darted a reproving glance at his father. "Is this something new with you or has it been this way all along?"

Vikram dropped his eyes. "I told you what I share with her was something you wouldn't understand."

"I'm pretty sure _most_ people don't understand it, Dad!" Danny cried, "She's your _sister_! You're having sex with _your sister_!"

Unable to acknowledge that argument or the rampant disgust that was evident on Danny's face, Vikram asked Tara fretfully, "What are you going to do with him?"

Tara cocked her weapon at Danny in unmistakable meaning. "You know what we have to do," she told her brother, "He's left us no choice in the matter!"

Vikram spun to confront her with a wild look. "No!" he cried, "Not again! You promised me! YOU PROMISED!"

"Stop being a fool, Vikram! Don't you see? He will _expose_ us, just like she would have exposed us! She would have ruined you. That's why you ran to me like a sniveling child after she confronted you because you _knew_ I would take care of it. You _knew_ I would stop her and I did. I protected us! I'm _always_ protecting us!"

"Not this way. Not again. Please don't kill him," Vikram pleaded pitifully, "I can't live with it..."

While they bickered back and forth about what should be done with him, Danny took advantage of their distraction to search out anything he could use as a weapon. There was no way he'd be able to outrun either one of them if he made a break for it. Although he had made many strides in his recovery since the accident he was hardly in the shape to run a race. He knew that if he was going to escape, he was going to have to disable Tara first. His father, on the other hand, might still be willing to listen to reason.

When his eyes fell to an untended rolling pin on the countertop adjacent to him, Danny started to make a lunge for it only to freeze in place when he felt something whiz past his ear. Within that terrifying second, the sound of gunfire echoed throughout the cabin. He turned his horrified gaze towards Tara.

"If you take another step," she warned, "the next shot will be through your brain. Sit down, Daniel."

Danny sat down. Left with no other choice, he addressed his indecisive father with naked pleading, hoping to appeal to whatever was left of Vikram Desai's conscience. "Dad, don't let her do this," he beseeched, "Are you really going to stand there and watch her kill me? I'm your child, _your only son_! You know this is wrong. You know _she's_ wrong!"

"Shut up!" Tara hissed, backhanding once again but this time across his temple. Danny briefly saw stars with the impact, his head exploding with pain when the butt of the gun met his skull. "You don't talk to him," she growled at him through clenched teeth, "You don't look at him! He's mine. He has always been mine!"

"I'm still yours, Tara," Vikram reassured her in a soothing tone, "That won't ever change. You don't have to hurt Danny."

She shook her head madly, her eyes wide and unfocused as her grip on sanity gradually began to loosen. "No, you're choosing him," she accused him bitterly, "Just like you chose _her_. How could you do that, Vikram? How could you chose her when I've always chosen _you_? I would have never betrayed you like she did!"

"I'm choosing you now," Vikram reasoned with her desperately, "Listen to me, you don't have to do it this way. We can tie him up and leave him here, Tara. We can still run, exactly like we planned. We'll take his car and leave right away. By the time they find Danny, we'll be long gone from here."

Tara kept her wary gaze trained on Danny when she responded. "And you promise you won't try to see him again?" she pressed, "You won't let him jeopardize what we have?"

"No. Never."

"Do you really _promise_ me this time?"

"I will never break another," Vikram vowed.

Seemingly compelled by Vikram's promise, Tara slowly started to lower her weapon, prompting both Vikram and Danny to release mutual sighs of relief. Their respite, however, was short-lived. Tara's dark eyes hardened coldly as she pointed the gun at Danny anew. "I'm afraid I know better, dear brother," she said, "A Desai _always_ breaks his promise."

Vikram's horrified scream was drowned out by the resulting cacophony created when Tara pulled the trigger. Several things happened in a simultaneous blur then. Just as Danny dove reflexively to avoid the bullet's trajectory, in the same instant that Vikram slammed into his sister with all of his might. The blow caused the gun to fly from her hand and into the adjacent room. It misfired once after clattering to the ground.

Danny barely registered the second gunshot. He suddenly became aware of the searing pain slicing across his forehead and temple and blood dripping into his eye. At the same time he did, Tara went airborne, knocked off of her feet from the impact of Vikram's colliding body. She clipped her head hard against the granite edge of the countertop as she tumbled, the resulting thud and sound of cracking bone resounding ominously throughout the kitchen. When it was over, Tara Desai lay motionless on the floor, blood rapidly pooling beneath her head, her eyes wide and vacant while Danny groped blindly for a towel to staunch his own bleeding head wound.

Seconds later, the interior of the cabin was illuminated with the flickers of red and blue and the insistent wails of approaching sirens. But Vikram Desai didn't acknowledge their approach at all. He was too preoccupied with cradling his sister's limp body in his arms. When authorities burst through the doors minutes later that was the blood splattered scene they discovered...a near unconscious Danny Desai slumped against a nearby wall with blood pouring down his face and his father, Vikram Desai, weeping brokenly over a dead woman.


	43. Chapter Forty Two

**Chapter Forty Two**

The gash had been cleaned and stitched but it still appeared pretty gruesome. Understandably then, Lacey was beyond horrified when she caught sight of it. "Oh my god!" she cried as she stooped forward to assist Danny through her window, "What the hell happened to you?"

When Danny had called her a little after 1 am and asked if he could come over, he had failed to mention that he had been run over by a freight train or, at least, he _looked_ like he had been. There was a rather intimidating scar that extended from the left, lateral portion of his forehead arcing back straight above his temple and beyond. It had been cleaned and stitched appropriately but the hair surrounding it had been neatly shaved, making it appear all the more prominent. The lower portion of his face had fared better with only the left corner of his upper lip swollen and crusted with a bloody scab but the seeming minor injury did little to ease Lacey's worry.

Her fingers beat tentatively over each wound, as if she wanted to inspect each one more thoroughly but was too terrified of causing him more pain to _actually_ touch them. She surveyed Danny with an anxious frown. "Who did this to you? Was it Archie? Did you guys have another fight tonight or something?"

The corner of his mouth lifted in a humorless smile. "Don't get all riled up. I know I look like crap but I'm doing much better than the other guy. Trust me."

There was a deadness reflected in the depths of his eyes when he said that, something that chilled Lacey deeply. "Tell me what's going on," she urged him, "When you called before, you sounded really upset."

"Aren't you getting a little tired of me calling you when I'm all banged up, Lace," he asked, "It's starting to become a habit with me."

Lacey responded to his teasing with a wobbly smile, mostly because she hoped that his joking signaled that the situation wasn't nearly as bad as they looked. "Look at the bright side," she replied lightly, "At least I didn't have to bail you out of jail this time." She thought for a moment that he might actually laugh at first but then his answering smirk abruptly twisted into an anguished grimace and the sound that escaped him was more a broken sob than a wry chuckle. Lacey instantly gathered him close and steered him over towards her bed, her worry increasing exponentially with his unanticipated display of raw emotion.

"Danny, tell me what happened," she urged again after he virtually collapsed onto her bed. She knelt down before him, her eyes darting over his crumpled features in dismay. "Who hurt you? Please...you're scaring me."

He looked at her then, his stare haunted and brimming with tears when he uttered, "Tara is dead."

Those three words were loaded with implication. After Lacey got over the initial shock of hearing them, she only had to consider Danny's distressed demeanor for a split second before her mind veered to the worst possible conclusion. She stared at him with a mixture of tentative fear and gathering horror. "Oh my God..." she whispered, "Tell me you didn't..."

Incredibly, Danny reacted to that with a teary snort. "I didn't kill her, Lacey!" he half sobbed, half laughed, "Is that what you really think I'm capable of?"

"I don't know what to think right now!" she burst out, "You show up at my house looking like death and acting like your world just imploded and then you tell me that Tara is dead! I'm doing everything I can not _to freak the hell out here, Danny!_ "

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry...I'm sorry..."

"Don't apologize. Just tell me."

"It was an accident and I wasn't responsible, not directly anyway, but the end result is the same," he told her, "She's dead, Lace. Tara is dead."

The explanation only sparked more questions for Lacey. "How?" She lifted her hand and tentatively traced the ridge of his scar with her fingertips. Danny flinched at the light touch regardless and she snatched her hand away. "Is that how you got it?" she asked in a suffocated tone, "Did Tara give you this scar?"

Danny grunted a mirthless chuckle and whisked his hands over his wet cheeks in an attempt to regain his composure. "Yeah, she's the one who gave it to me and every other scar I have," he said, "The ones you can see...and the ones you can't." When Lacey continued to peer at his quizzically, he clarified bluntly, "She shot me, Lacey."

Lacey recoiled from him for a second time. "What?" she exclaimed, "You were shot? _Tara shot you?_ "

"It's just a graze..." he explained blearily, "She meant to kill me but my dad..." He stopped suddenly with his account, as if he couldn't bring himself to complete it. By the time he spoke again, it was clear that he had skipped over countless, pertinent facts but Lacey didn't immediately call him on it because what he told her next shocked her into distraction. "They wanted to keep me overnight in the hospital but I said no. I've had enough of hospitals. No more. I just wanted to get to you, so I drove straight here."

" _You did what?"_ she burst out incredulously, "You drove yourself here _after you were shot_? Have you lost it?"

"Shh...shh...don't yell," he admonished her quickly, "I don't want to wake your mom."

Lacey obliged him by tempering her tone but it was quite evident to Danny that she was stewing. Her next statement to him was vibrating with censure when she hissed, "What were you thinking? Do you have any idea how serious this injury could be? What _idiot_ let you walk out of the hospital like this? Is that place run by trained monkeys?"

"Would you relax? I'm not going to die. They gave me a prescription for antibiotics and everything. I had my first dose before I left the hospital."

"Well, of course! That makes it all okay because they gave you _freaking antibiotics_!" Lacey blazed sarcastically.

To her mounting frustration, Danny had the nerve to smile at her reprimand. "I get that you're pissed off at me right now but you have no idea how adorable you are to me right now," he acknowledged in a fuzzy tone, "Your nose does this cute little crinkle thing when you're mad. I like it."

"Danny, can you focus for a moment?"

"Can't and don't want to. I'm exhausted and my head is pounding like crazy."

"That kind of happens when it _meets a bullet_ ," Lacey retorted tartly, "I don't know if I should hug you or wring your neck right now. God, you're so stupid!"

He leaned forward to nuzzle her nose with his own. "Come on," he cajoled sweetly, "Don't be mad at me. I've had a bad day."

Lacey continued to glower at him but didn't immediately pull away. "You can't charm your way out of this, Danny," she whispered, "What happened last night? When I left you earlier, you were waiting with your dad and everything seemed fine. Now you show up here telling me you've been shot and that your aunt is dead. I need to know what's going on. _Please_..."

Danny cradled her face in his hands then and pressed a fervent kiss to her lips, curtailing further discussion about it. Only when he felt her yield to him did Danny finally lift his head. He regarded her with an expression full of tortured pleading. "Can I just be here with you for a minute?" he requested humbly, "I'll tell you everything but I just..." He tugged her up from the floor and into his lap and tucked his face into the warm valley between her breasts. "Can I _please_ be here with you now? You're the only good thing that's left and...and I need you..."

When he slipped his hand beneath her nightshirt and began palming her bare breast in unmistakable intent, Lacey knew that she should stop him. It was clear that Danny intended to use sex in an attempt at avoidance and distraction. It wasn't a good idea. Considering the weighty matters that he had revealed to her and the sketchy details she had received, it was critical that they have a more involved conversation about it all. However, Lacey was fairly certain right then that if she pushed Danny to talk before he was ready, he would shut down on her completely.

So, she didn't shrug away from his touch as he traced the rounded contours of her breasts with his fingertips but instead leaned back to whip her shirt over her head to afford him with greater access. She cradled him against her skin as he nibbled and tasted and sucked and eagerly divested him of his clothing as they tumbled back into her bed together. After it was over and Danny was sated and sleepy and she lay cuddled against him with her cheek pillowed on his bare chest and his arm draped loosely across her body, Lacey asked the question.

"Do you want to talk about it now?"

His weary sigh rumbled in her ear. "She called him after you left," he confessed gruffly after a tense beat of silence, "They were going to run away together."

Lacey tipped back her head to regard him. "How do you know that?"

"I overheard my dad talking to her on the phone," he said, "When he left to meet her, I followed him."

As he expected, Lacey closed her eyes and digested that information with an aggravated groan. "Just when I think you can't get anymore idiotic..." she muttered.

"I didn't want her to get away," he whispered emphatically, "She needed to pay for what she had done, Lacey. She needed to pay for you and for Jo and for Clara. I couldn't let her get away."

"Why not call the police?"

"I _did_ call the police! But if I had waited for them to show up, she and my dad would have definitely disappeared together! I did what I had to do."

While it was clear that Lacey did not agree with his reasoning, she didn't admonish him further about it. "So where did you go?"

"Some cabin across state lines." Lacey made emitted a low, grunt of reprimand, inciting Danny's exasperated scowl. "Are you going to bust my ass all night or do you want me to tell it?"

"Fine. Go ahead."

"At first, I was going to wait in the car for the cops to arrive like a good little boy," he recounted, "But the longer I sat there, the more I started to imagine my dad and Tara making their getaway before they could arrive. I only went up there to make sure they didn't leave and, while I was there, I saw..."

"You saw what?" Lacey pressed when he drifted off into silence, "What did you see?"

"I heard a noise," he said, "I thought that maybe they were fighting or something but when I looked in the window I saw them...I saw them..." He looked down at Lacey with a haunted expression as the memory played itself out behind his eyes. "They were having sex."

Lacey blinked at him several times before she could speak, pushing herself upright with the shock of it. "I'm sorry...what?"

"You heard me. My dad and aunt were having an incestuous affair, probably their whole lives."

"No way," Lacey breathed.

"I can tell you that's not an image I'll ever get out of my head."

"What did your dad say about it?"

"Not much," Danny grunted, "He was too busy trying to convince Tara not to kill me."

"Oh my God..."

"And that's not even the worst part of it," Danny mumbled in dejection.

"What's the worst part?" Lacey asked with heightened wariness.

"I think Tara killed my mother," Danny revealed slowly, "She killed my mother and my dad knew about it the entire time."

"Why do you think that? What did she say?"

"She said that my mom was threatening to expose them and that she would have ruined my dad," he recounted woodenly, "She called it 'protecting them.' She told him that killing me would be 'protecting them' too."

"Oh my God..." Lacey uttered again.

"But when she went to pull the trigger, my dad shoved her away. He shoved her really hard and she hit her head on the countertop as she went down. There was so much blood everywhere...mine and hers..."

"Oh, Danny..."

"I'm not even sad she's dead," he continued in a wooden tone, "I saw my dad holding her and crying over her and all I could feel was relief...like I could breathe for the first time. It was like a release. She was lying there dead and my dad was _devastated_ and I was glad. I was _happy_ because I felt free."

"After everything that woman did to you, Danny, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. It's completely understandable that you felt that way."

He shook his head in terse denial. "I don't think it's normal. I think something is broken inside of me, like it was broken inside of them. _That's_ my legacy, Lacey," he concluded sadly, " _That's_ where I come from. _That's_ who I am."

She leaned over him then, her tone fierce when she told him, "That is _not_ who you are, Danny! Your dad and Tara are not a reflection on _you_. Don't take that on yourself."

"I feel so lost right now," he whispered brokenly, "I don't even know who I am."

Lacey settled back down against him and tucked her face into the crook of his neck. "You're the man that I love," she whispered, "and you're going to get through this. I'll help you get through this."

After Lacey affirmed those promises by making love to Danny a second time, the stress of the last two days finally took its toll on him and he fell into an exhausted slumber. Lacey, on the other hand, had extreme difficulty falling asleep. Her mind was whirring with everything Danny had told her but also obsessing over all the things he had not. Danny had so much pain internalized inside of him that Lacey suspected they had only scratched the surface tonight. Her fear, however, was that the wall Danny had erected around his heart might not let her delve any deeper than that. Only time would tell...

Shortly after dawn, Lacey untangled herself from Danny's loose embrace and climbed from bed. She wanted to intercept her mother before Judy decided to pop into her room for her usual morning talk. Her mother was amenable to Danny being in her life but Lacey seriously doubted that meant Judy would be copacetic with a naked Danny Desai in her daughter's bed, no matter how mitigating the circumstances. So, that morning after she had showered and dressed, Lacey decided to surprise her mother with breakfast in bed, careful to keep the elder Porter woman distracted until she finally left for work.

Once she was gone, Lacey wasted no time sprinting back up the stairs to her bedroom to check on Danny. He was still sleeping soundly, having barely shifted from the sprawled position he had been in when she'd climbed out of bed hours earlier. Lacey knelt down close to the bed to make sure he was still breathing. It was possible she was being paranoid but with his head injury and the limited medical interventions he had received she couldn't be too careful. When she noted the steady rise and fall of his chest, Lacey straightened with a satisfied sigh and tried to think about what she would do next.

Technically, she had a ten o'clock class that morning but Lacey had no intention of attending that day. There was no way she could leave Danny. She shot a quick email to her professor, explaining that a family emergency had come up and that she would be unable to attend that day. Once that was done, Lacey also put in a call to Danny's grandparents, who were understandably distraught by that point, and made up an impulsive lie about her and Danny needing a little more time to figure out their relationship before he came home. News of Tara's death hadn't yet broken in the media, so Lacey had very few problems convincing the Kincaids that Danny had spent the night at her house and simply lost track of time. With those two tasks completed, however, Lacey could do little more than wait. And she waited. And waited. And waited while Danny slept and slept and slept.

It was nearly two o'clock in the afternoon when he finally began to shift and stir under the covers again so Lacey decided to be proactive and brew a pot of coffee in anticipation of his waking. When she entered her bedroom again ten minutes later, he was sitting upright in her bed, looking confused and disoriented, his face imprinted with creases from the folds her pillowcase, his hair falling in a tangled mess across his forehead. She smiled at the picture he made.

"Good morning," she sang as she tiptoed her way to the bed carrying the steaming cup, "I thought you could use a pick me up."

"Good morning," he croaked in return, accepting the mug with a grateful nod, "How did you know I needed this?"

"I'm psychic." She smiled at him again, trying not to be too endeared by how adorable he looked even right then with his bed head and puffy eyes, even with the angry scar that was partially covered by his tousled hair. "Two creams no sugar, right?" she asked, watching him as he took a sip.

He smiled at her over the edge of the mug. "You remembered."

"It hasn't been _that_ long, Danny."

"It'll be six months in two weeks, Lace," he told her solemnly.

"Oh. I didn't realize we had been broken up for that long."

"I did." He took another sip of his coffee before diffusing the somber moment between them with a bit of humor. "This is nice. Breakfast in bed," he teased with a mischievous grin, "Oh honey, you shouldn't have gone to so much trouble for me."

"Don't get sassy with me, Desai. I'll have you know that brewing coffee is a lot harder than it looks."

"Aww, poor Lacey. Did you burn your finger? Did you sprain your thumb while you were scooping? Want me to kiss your booboo and make it better?"

"Screw you," she retorted with a good-natured smile.

"You did already," he pointed out irreverently, "Three times in fact." With that, he set aside his cup with a feline smile, scooting forward to nip playfully at her throat. "I'm more than okay with going for a fourth if you want..."

Lacey nudged him away, refusing to be compelled by his nibbling kisses. "Enough of that, Danny," she said sternly, "We need to talk." Danny flopped back into the pillows with a thwarted grunt and muttered something indistinct under his breath. Lacey inhaled a mock gasp of horror at what she suspected was a crude rejoinder. "What was that, Desai?"

"I said _the lather stuck_ ," he replied, blinking at her in round-eyed innocence, "On your skin. You still have soap residue on your neck. I tasted it when I was kissing you."

Her expression remained unconvinced as she grunted out a noncommittal, "Right."

Danny stacked his hands behind his head in a waiting gesture. "So what do you want to talk about?"

The very fact that he asked the question alerted Lacey to the fact he was about to start playing an evading game. With that in mind, rather than addressing what happened last night, specifically what happened _between them in her bed_ , Lacey began by addressing another concern instead. "My mom will be home in a couple of hours."

He nodded in understanding at what she had left unspoken. "I know I need to get out of here."

"No," Lacey protested, "I think you should stay. She'll understand if I explain things too her." When he started to shake his head in refusal, she added in a sweet, wheedling tone, "I'll make you lunch." She didn't expect for him to rear upright with a hissed expletive when she said that but that was exactly what happened. "What's wrong?"

"You're talking about lunch? What time is it? How long have I been asleep?"

She hitched a nod over to her bedside clock, which he had missed because it was covered with his discarded t-shirt. Lacey brushed it aside and read aloud the glowing, digital numbers. "2:13."

"Holy crap!" Danny exclaimed, kicking off the covers with every intention of leaping from the bed, "I can't believe it's so late! Mimi is going to have a freaking heart attack!"

Lacey gently held him fast before he could roll from the bed completely. "Stop freaking out, okay. I called your grandmother and explained that you're going to be hanging out with me for a while. Everything is fine."

Danny relaxed against her hold in wary increments. "You called her?"

"Yep. This morning."

"And what did you tell her?" he demanded anxiously, "You didn't mention what happened at the cabin, did you? You didn't say anything about what I told you? God, Lacey! Tell me you didn't!"

" _Stop freaking out!_ " Lacey ordered again in a more strident tone, "I didn't tell her anything except that you had gone practically 36 hours without sleep and you were tired." She regarded him with a reproving look as he wilted back into the untidy bedding with a relieved sigh. "That doesn't mean you shouldn't tell her what's happened, Danny. She's going to hear about it eventually. Do you want her to find out from the news or from you?"

He massaged his temples wearily. "Honestly, I don't really want to deal with it either way. Not right now."

"Why not? Do you think she'll give you a hard time about this? I don't think she would do that, Danny. She seems like she loves you."

Danny met her eyes in a telling stare. "Sometimes love isn't enough."

Lacey didn't miss the double meaning of his statement. She knew he was talking specifically about _their_ relationship too. That was the very reason she said, "Love _is_ always enough, Danny. It will always be the thing to carry you through and it will get you through this as well. Tell your grandmother the truth."

"I can't face her," he muttered, "Not when I know that _I'm_ the reason her daughter is dead."

"No, _Tara_ is the reason," Lacey corrected firmly, " _Your dad_ is the reason. Stop taking responsibility for things that have nothing to do with you."

"But it has _everything_ to do with me," Danny argued, "My mom was planning to expose him to protect _me_. She was going to leave him for _me_. And she died trying to do that...and I have to live with that, just like I have to live with Clara and you."

"That isn't your fault either and it never has been," Lacey whispered. She had told him as much several times before but the words failed to penetrate just as they did now. Lacey watched with a measure of disappointment but not surprise when his expression gradually became inscrutable as he once again put up an emotional wall between them.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," he said, closing his eyes as he leaned back against his pillow with a tired sigh, "Let's talk about something else."

"Okay. Fine," Lacey conceded brusquely, "Why don't we talk about what's happening between us instead?"

His eyes fluttered open when he detected the hurt confusion in her tone, bubbling just beneath her angry veneer. Danny studied her dejected profile for a moment before conceding with a defeated grunt. "So what do you want to talk about, Lacey?"

She scowled at him. "You don't have to sound like I'm twisting your arm about it!"

Danny caught hold of her wrist when she would have shot up from the bed and stalked away. "I didn't mean it like that," he whispered contritely, "I just...I don't want to hurt you."

Accepting his tacit apology, Lacey relaxed against him though her sullen pout remained. "Why do you say that? Are you thinking that you will?"

"I don't know. I feel like you might have expectations for us that I can't meet right now," he replied carefully, "Maybe I'll never be able to meet them."

"What kind of expectations do you think I have?"

"You want us to go back to the way we were before the accident," he said, "and I can't do that."

"That's not what I want at all!" she denied sharply, "You aren't the only one who changed after that day, Danny! What happened to Clara changed me too. I live with it every day. But I don't understand how us being apart is going to change that. I don't see why we can't start over."

"Way too much has happened for that, Lacey."

That response incurred Lacey's withering glower. "Well, if that's the way you feel then what the hell was last night about? Why did you come to me if it's really over for you?" Danny's eyes darted away with the forthrightness of her charge but Lacey was not dissuaded by his attempts to avoid her. "You still love me," she whispered, "You needed me last night and you need me now. Why won't you let yourself admit that? Why is that so difficult for you? Danny, this is the first time you've let me close to you in months."

"I know. But last night was something else. I can't explain it. I felt so lost and alone and you were the first person I thought of, Lace."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"I don't know that it is."

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"It means that I want you to be my safe place," he murmured, "I want you to be my home but I can't risk it. It's like I told you back at the house. I don't want to make myself vulnerable anymore. It's too hard and I can't handle it. I can't keep doing this loop around with you."

"Because you're scared," Lacey surmised softly.

"Because _you're_ scared," he countered in a meaningful tone.

She shook her head in fervid denial of that. "I'm not the one pushing you away right now," she reminding him.

He threw up his hands in exasperation. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"And what does that mean, Danny?" Lacey pressed once more, "What exactly do you want? You keep saying that we can't be together but then you turn around and sleep with me! So which is it?"

"It's both!" he shot back, "I can give you what we have right now...but that's all, Lacey."

Lacey regarded him with eyes narrowed in confusion. "What we have..."

Danny reached forward to take her hand and press it between his own. "What happened between us last night," he began softly, "and the day before that, obviously the attraction is still there. I think as long as we keep interacting with each other it's bound to _keep_ happening and I was thinking that maybe we shouldn't fight it anymore. Maybe we should just...go with _that_. No strings attached."

It took Lacey a few seconds to discern what he was asking her and, when she did, she snapped to attention with a dubious frown. "Are you're telling me you want to have some kind of 'friends with benefits' arrangement? Is that what you're saying?" she balked. She stared at him in disbelief, unable to decide if she was amused by the suggestion or offended. She settled on a mixture of both. "Tell me you're not being serious."

"This is the second time we've slept together in two days," he reasoned, "Now that we've started again, I don't want to stop. Do you?"

"Have you ever stopped to consider that's because we still love each other, you idiot?" she retorted dryly, " _That_ is the reason it keeps happening, Danny! God!"

"I don't want us to get back together just so you can break up with me again in a couple of weeks," he argued stubbornly, "I'm over that song and dance."

"That's _not_ going to happen!"

"Like hell it's not going to happen!" he flung back hotly, "It _always_ happens, Lacey! Let's be real here. I'm beyond screwed up and I know it. _You_ know it! It's only a matter of time before I do something to piss you off and you walk again. But I can give you this," he went on, scooting closer to place a nibbling kiss to her ear, "And this..." he added as he sank lower, his lips skating lightly across her collarbone. "And this..." When he started to descend lower with the obvious intention of exposing her breasts to his mouth and hands, she flinched away from him.

Under different circumstances Lacey might have allowed herself to enjoy that caress but not right then, not with the implications of what he was saying to her. Lacey uttered his name in weak protest and gently pushed him away when he started to come at her again, saddened that he would consolidate their relationship into something so cheap and insignificant. "Why are you doing this?" she whispered mournfully, "Don't you know that I want _more_ from you than just sex?"

"You say that now but then reality will hit and we'll be right back in the same old pattern. Aren't you tired of it yet?"

"No. I'm not tired. I've never been tired."

Danny scoffed at the avowal. "Oh yeah? You mean how you _didn't_ get tired when you were waiting for me to marry you back in that first life?" he charged pointedly, "This has been our dynamic since the very beginning, Lacey! Don't think I don't know you were planning to leave me the night you got trapped in the city. You were going to take my child and run from me and I was never going to see you again..."

"That is not true-,"

"-No, you wanted to talk," he pressed on brutally, "Let's talk. Let's talk about how you weren't 'tired' when you avoided me all of those weeks before we got together! Or how about when you broke up with me that first time after we found out Jo was pregnant?" he hammered on, "Or how about the second time when you thought I was using again? You _always_ get tired of me, Lacey. It's a fact."

It was scary to her how he had already worked out everything in his head and how very twisted his logic seemed about it. "You're not being fair to me," she huffed in a tear thickened voice.

"But I'm not lying either," he countered softly, "And I'm not blaming you, okay. I get it. I've never had very much to offer you, despite being a pharaoh in one life and an heir to a fortune in another. You were trying to protect your heart and anyone would have done the same in your position. So why can't you understand that I'm trying to protect mine?"

"From me?" Lacey bleated incredulously.

"Yes, from you! I told you already that I can't let myself depend on you if you're going to bolt every time you get scared. I can't afford to do that anymore, Lacey. I don't have the emotional stamina for it. It takes everything I have in me just to get through the day without going crazy!"

"I can help you with that."

"NO, YOU CAN'T!" he exploded, "So stop trying!"

Lacey dropped her head forward and expelled a short, frustrated sigh. "Can we talk about something else?" she grumbled, "We're just going in circles here and it's beginning to give me a headache."

Danny sighed as well, his angry bluster instantly replaced with sorrow. "Do you want me to go?"

"No, actually. I _wanted_ to make you lunch," she muttered sullenly, "I _wanted_ to spend the rest of the afternoon in bed with you but that was _before_ you went and ruined it by telling me that was all you wanted in the first place."

Her succinct phrasing in the matter filled Danny with chagrin. "That's not how I meant it."

"Oh yeah? And how did you mean it?"

"You asked me what I wanted and I was trying to explain..."

"You made it pretty clear," Lacey interjected tartly, "You want no strings sex. Period. End of discussion."

"Would you stop saying it like _that_?"

"Like what?"

"Like I'm only out for one thing. Like I'm _that_ guy. I'm not _that_ guy."

She arched a challenging eyebrow. "You're not?"

"No, I'm not!" he insisted emphatically, "I don't want either of us to make promises to each other that we can't keep. Sex is easier. It's straightforward and it's simple. I can make you feel good." He shifted closer to nuzzle the underside of her jaw, his fingers gliding over her shoulders in a light caress as he whispered, "But only if that's what _you_ want."

Lacey reared back from him with a stubborn whimper. "I don't know," she mumbled, abruptly shifting to her feet, "Let me think about it, okay." But it was clear from her tone of voice that she wasn't going to "think" about it at all and they both knew it. "I should probably go downstairs and make us something to eat now," she mumbled, desperate for any excuse to leave that room as soon as possible.

Danny surveyed her with a dubious look. "You still want to feed me? You're not kicking me out?"

She rolled her eyes at the question. "I've been listening to your stomach growl for the last ten minutes, Danny," she replied flatly, "I won't send you away hungry. I'm not heartless."

He accepted her hospitality with a small nod. "Thank you, Lacey."

"You're welcome," she whispered, "Well...why don't you get cleaned up while I put something together?"

"Sure."

As she started to exit, however, she paused at the door to turn and regard him one, final time. "For the record, that night in Thebes, I wasn't planning to leave you at all. Ankhesenamun told me that my parents were in the city and I went to look for them because I was worried. I didn't abandon you then, Danny...and I'm not abandoning you now." They regarded one another in a wordless moment charged with emotion as Lacey let the import of what she had just revealed to Danny sink in. When she was certain she had made her point, she squared her shoulders with a plaintive sigh and turned to leave. "I just thought you should know."


	44. Chapter Forty Three

**Chapter Forty Three**

"Hi."

It took Danny a moment to cover his shock when he came downstairs and found Lacey waiting for him in his grandparents foyer. He paused for a brief second, drinking in the sight of her as she stood there nibbling her plump lower lip with a distracted expression on her face. The instant she became aware of his presence, however, she greeted him with an over-bright smile. He stepped forward and started to enfold her in an awkward hug but they both were so robotic and ill at ease with the gesture that he thought better of it and waved instead. "Um...so...hey. What are you doing here?"

"I decided to stop by and surprise you," Lacey replied. She lifted her hand in a weak wave. "Surprise."

"I _am_ surprised," Danny said, "I thought that maybe the last time we saw each other was going to be the last time we saw each other."

Lacey smirked at him a little. "That's the difference between us," she told him wryly, "I knew better."

Of course, she could understand why he had drawn that conclusion. The communication between them in the past week had been stilted and sporadic and beset with tension, giving no indication that Lacey was interested in anything more than casual acquaintance. If she didn't count the days she called to check up on him following the media blitz that came after his aunt's sensational death, they hadn't engaged in a real conversation at all. The times they _had_ spoken to one another had been short, formal and unfailingly polite. Not once had either of them mention Danny's proposal from their last encounter. It was as if that subject had never come up between them at all.

They also didn't mention the night they had spent together prior to his return to Connecticut. To address the intimacy that had occurred between them would also mean discussing the unresolved issues between them and neither Lacey nor Danny seemed to have the emotional reserves for that. So they kept their exchanges brief and fairly impersonal. For all intents and purposes, they didn't act very much like a couple who was yearning to be together even though that was exactly what they were. Or, at least, _Lacey_ was yearning for it.

About four days into their standoff, right after Danny's father was cleared of all suspicion involving Tara Desai's attempt at evading the law and subsequent death , Lacey recognized the ridiculousness in pretending that she didn't. Her every waking thought had been of Danny since the day that they parted. And when she slept at night, he was in her dreams too. Her heart was still tied up hopelessly with his only now it was breaking in the wake of his absence and conflicted with worry about him.

The media was having a field day with speculating on the reason Tara Desai had "gone crazy" and attempted to murder her nephew which resulted in Danny being hounded everywhere he went. The few shots reporters managed to land when he wasn't covering his face revealed just how miserable he was. But Lacey didn't need to catch a glimpse his face to know that he was in a bad place. He was still grappling with the twisted truths he had discovered about his family. That had been evident in his hollow tone every time they spoke, permeating their conversation with everything he left unsaid. Danny needed her, Lacey realized, whether he could verbalize it or not.

In coming to that realization, Lacey was able to have another. Danny was going through a challenging time in his life and feeling understandably overwhelmed in the aftermath of all of that. He was in self-preservation mode. It was little wonder then that he had requested from her something that required minimal effort on his part, no strings sex and a non-romantic relationship because that was truly _all_ he could handle at the moment.

Lacey had hated it. And, in truth, she _still_ hated it because she thought it reduced their relationship to something it had never been but now that enough time had passed for her anger to simmer down, she could understand his reasons for doing so. The more she thought about it, the more determined she was to prove to Danny that they could be more than that. He needed to be able to trust that she would stick by him no matter how difficult the circumstances and Lacey knew that she would never convince him of that if she kept retreating emotionally every time Danny did something that left her feeling vulnerable.

She no longer wanted to follow those old patterns. She wanted to prove to Danny that he _could_ believe in her and in their love for each other, that there was a safe place for him in the world. That was going to require a great deal of time and patience because Danny didn't have faith in much of anything anymore. He had suffered more than a lifetime of disappointment, abandonment and betrayal and from the very people who claimed to love him most. Seen from that perspective, it wasn't surprising that he remained so self-reliant. He probably felt like he couldn't count on anyone besides himself.

That wasn't a conclusion Danny had come to overnight and it certainly wasn't something Lacey could overturn overnight either. He was very likely going to make her work for it. And while she wasn't entirely sure she had the psychological reserves to meticulously sift through the figurative emotional wreckage that had been left behind by Danny's father, Tara, Jo, Archie and even herself, Lacey wanted to try even if that resulted in her being nothing more than his friend.

It was that motivation that had prompted her unannounced visit. As soon as the weekend had come, she packed a small overnight bag, gathered together a few funds for a hotel stay and informed her mother that she intended to visit Danny, all without knowing how he would receive her. She didn't even stop to consider whether or not she might be making a foolish decision. Lacey simply got in her car and drove.

Only at the moment when she was being buzzed past the Kincaid security gait did Lacey begin to consider that perhaps she had been a bit _too_ impulsive. Standing there awkwardly with Danny right then, uncertain of whether he was happy to see her or not and also acutely aware of the fact that it could very well be the latter only made Lacey feel even more self-conscious. However, it was too late to back out. She was there now and seeing Danny's beautiful eyes again, no matter how wary and mistrustful they might be at the moment, somehow made the trip worthwhile for her.

"So..." she began in a conversational tone when he continued to regard her in dumbfounded silence, "It's been a couple of days since we spoke. What's new with you?"

"What's new with me?" Danny echoed.

"Yeah. What's new? For instance, _I_ trimmed my split ends and just finished my antibiotics for a nasty ear infection. What did _you_ do?"

"Oh well, I had my stitches removed from the laceration to my scalp and I watched my father lie in open court about how he had nothing to do with my mother's death," he replied flatly.

Lacey's good humor deflated in record time. "Oh. I didn't realize you were in Green Grove."

"Just for a day."

"And you didn't stop by to see me..." she prompted in unconcealed disappointment.

"I guess I was trying to give you some space," he mumbled.

Lamenting the distance between them more than ever, Lacey regarded him with a solemn expression and found herself staring the small, puckered sickle shaped scar that cut just over the top of his temple and disappeared into his thick hairline. "On a positive note, you can barely see where you were shot," she considered weakly.

"Yeah well, it's fortunate that I kept my hair so long in the front. Though I don't suppose it matters too much." His fingers drifted to the puckered skin at the base of his throat, the only remaining evidence of the hole that had been there following the tracheostomy he had received while he'd been hospitalized. "Just another Tara scar to add to the growing list."

The bitterness in his response made her ache inside. "I'm so sorry, Danny."

"Why are you apologizing to me?" he demanded shortly, "It's not your fault that my family is full of psychotic freaks." When she winced in response to his sharp tone, however, Danny felt immediate regret. He exhaled a deep sigh. "No, _I'm_ the one who's sorry," he mumbled tiredly, "I shouldn't have snapped at you. I'm just...pissed off about everything."

"You're allowed to be pissed off," she whispered back in commiseration. Lacey lowered her tone an octave more when she asked, "Do you grandparents know about, you know...everything with your aunt and dad? Have you told them that...?"

"If you mean have I told them that Tara murdered my mother to keep her incestuous affair with my father a secret, then no. I've been keeping that lovely tidbit to myself. They don't know," Danny replied, "and they won't know if I can help it. At least, for now. I can only deal with one family implosion at a time."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"You can tell me why you're here," he pressed gently, "I mean, I know we've been talking lately but I haven't really gotten the impression you wanted to see me."

"That goes both ways, Desai."

"True, but that still doesn't explain why you showed up today."

Lacey's lips twitched with the beginnings of a nervous smile. "Would you believe that I happened to be in the neighborhood and decided to drop by?"

Danny responded to that with a short, affectionate chuckle. "Uh, no. Try again."

"Okay, how about this?" she countered, lifting her head to meet his eyes directly when she said, "I've missed you. A lot."

He surprised her when he whispered back without any prompting, "I've missed you too, Lace."

"So what should we do about that, Danny? Because this weird talking but not really talking thing we've been doing is starting to get old."

"You tell me what we should do," he sighed, "because I don't see a solution. You and I don't want the same things anymore."

"I think we do. You're just too chicken to admit it."

"Really? You're calling me chicken? What are we? Twelve?" he scoffed derisively, "And, for the record, I am _not_ a chicken! I'm being cautious and prudent, Lacey. _Adults_ are cautious and prudent."

Lacey swallowed back her guffaw to hear Danny Desai equate himself with either thing. "Oh, so you're an adult now, are you?" she teased him, "When did that happen?"

"Not that you've noticed but I've grown up a lot in the last six months," he said, "I don't want to make the same mistakes over and over."

The note of sincerity in his tone sobered Lacey a bit. "Neither do I," she whispered, "See there? We _do_ want the same things, Danny." They ended in their usual wordless stalemate before Lacey asked in a cajoling tone, "Come on, let's figure this out. Do you think that maybe you and I could go somewhere and just talk? I mean, _really_ talk about what we want and how we can make this work between us."

"We've already done that, Lacey, and it always brings us right back to this place."

"Let's try it again anyway."

Danny regarded her with a yearning look, betraying the effectiveness of Lacey's coercive tactics. It was difficult not to be compelled with her, especially when faced with the knowledge that he wanted her as much as he always had, even more in fact. Danny could almost let himself believe they could work this time but then he remembered waiting for her to come to him while he was in the hospital and he knew he couldn't make himself vulnerable to her again. The chaos in his life may have tempered, thereby making it less dangerous for Lacey to be with him but she was still as dangerous to his heart as she had ever been. For that reason alone, Danny remained obstinate.

"I can't," he told her finally, "Even if I thought it was a good idea, and I don't think that it is, I can't go anywhere with you today. I'm actually leaving here in a few minutes to go apartment shopping with my grandmother. It's bad timing." As Lacey responded to that with a disappointed murmur someone from outside of the foyer suddenly cleared their throat very loudly and obnoxiously. Danny blew out a resigned sigh at the sound, discerning its source immediately.

"Did you need something, Mimi?" he asked dryly.

His grandmother scooted around the corner with a sheepish smile. "Oh hello, sweetheart. I was just passing by and I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with the lovely Ms. Porter," she told him.

"Uh-huh. I'm sure you were just 'passing by.' And what exactly did you overhear?"

"It's just that when you specifically mentioned that you wouldn't have time to talk with her because you had a previous engagement with me..."

"That's right."

"Well, as it turns out," Mimi rambled on, "I won't be able to accompany you after all, my dear. Some emergency business has come up here at home and I'm afraid I must stay behind to attend to it." She managed to keep a straight face as she added judiciously, "Very important business."

"Oh yeah?" Danny challenged impudently, "What kind of 'emergency business'? Maybe I can help."

Clearly, Mimi hadn't expected to be questioned about her claim and her stunned expression might have been enough to make Danny laugh if he weren't so annoyed with her right then. "Well...I...er...well..." she floundered pitifully, "...that's not really necessary, Danny. No need for us both to lose the day. The point I'm making here is," she stressed meaningfully, "since I won't be able to go with you after all, perhaps..."

She inclined a meaningful nod towards Lacey, making her designs blindingly obvious. Danny barely repressed the impulse to roll his eyes. And that was _before_ Mimi predictably suggested, "Why don't you take Lacey with you instead? She's a young person like yourself. I'm sure she would know your personal tastes much better than I would."

Danny surveyed her with a deadpan expression. "Right."

"I think it's a splendid idea," Mimi determined before looking over to a heretofore speechless Lacey for confirmation, "Don't you think so too, dear?"

"Sure...y-yeah...I guess, Mrs. Kincaid," Lacey stammered self-consciously.

"You will call me 'Mimi,'" Mimi informed her with a warm smile, "Let's not have this formal business between us because I suspect that you and I are going to get to know each other very well."

Lacey cut a careful look over at Danny before she replied, "Well, okay...Mimi."

"Excellent. You and Danny should probably get a move on now. Real estate sells very quickly in these parts. You know what they say...or at least they _used_ to say it in my day: the early bird gets the worm."

"No, they still say it," Lacey reassured her with a laugh, "And it's still appropriate."

Mimi shooed them away. "Get out of here then! Go have fun. Danny, feel free to take my car."

"We can drive mine," Lacey volunteered, "That way you're not inconvenienced in case you need yours."

Fairly beaming, Mimi said, "How thoughtful of you. You're a good girl." Satisfied that her plan was working just as she wanted, she clapped her hands together with a gleeful yelp. "Wonderful! It seems like we have a plan then."

Danny had watched their volleying exchange with a growing frown but, by that point, he couldn't refrain from speaking up. "No, we do _not_ have a plan," he protested crossly, "I thought you and I were going to spend time together. You can't just pawn me off on someone else! I'm not a puppy."

His grandmother blinked at him innocently with wide, blue eyes. "Of course you're not , dear. I simply thought you'd rather spend your time with Lacey, and get _her_ opinion on an apartment," she reasoned, "After all, it's a fair likelihood that she'll be spending _a lot_ of time there."

Lacey went into an awkward coughing fit at Mimi's blatant assessment while Danny blushed hotly in mortification. "Mimi," he enunciated from behind an artificial smile, "What did we say about you meddling in my personal life? Do you remember us having that discussion?"

Her response to that was yet more wide-eyed blinking. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean, dear."

After she walked away with a final bid for them to "have fun together," Lacey found herself chuckling openly at Danny's peeved expression. "Your grandmother's really something," she remarked laughingly and when Danny answered that with a humorless grunt, she added, "She's very sweet."

Danny gave a longsuffering shake of his head. "She thinks you and I should be together."

"I guess we have that in common," Lacey murmured, "because I think that too."

His eyes fell away at her quiet rejoinder. "But she doesn't know our whole story and how we've caused each other more hurt than happiness, does she?"

Lacey felt disheartened and subdued in the wake of his muttered reply. It was hard not to feel discouraged when he sounded so hopeless about everything. "Should I not have come here, Danny?" she asked in a miserable tone, "Do you want me to leave?"

Danny's mouth twisted in an ironic smile. "I never want you to leave. _That's_ the problem."

She bit back her own smile, strangely elated over how flustered he sounded. "Does that mean you're going to take me with you to go apartment hunting?"

He wasn't at all immune to the hopeless entreaty in her tone. "I guess so," he conceded grudgingly, "Come on. Let's get out of here."

Despite his grumbling attitude, Danny was secretly happy to have Lacey with him. He wasn't being facetious when he told her that he had missed her. He had. Every minute of every hour of every day. But, after that last day at her house when he told her he wanted a sexual relationship and nothing more, he hadn't really expected to hear from her again. He knew that he'd offended her that day even though that hadn't been his intention.

Truthfully, his sole objective had been to find something that could work for both of them. Lacey wouldn't have to be disappointed in him continually because she would have no expectations beyond the sex. He wouldn't have to live in fear of eventually losing her because there would be no investment in an actual relationship. And, in the process, they could enjoy spending time together. From Danny's perspective, it seemed like a win/win situation for all involved. Not necessarily ideal but acceptable nonetheless. He could only assume when Lacey spent the entire next day avoiding his calls after he returned home to Connecticut that she didn't agree.

Of course, she had summarily shot that theory to hell when she called him about four days later after the news broke that his father had been cleared of all charges involving Tara. She had wanted to check in with him because she knew he would be upset. They talked briefly about what his immediate plans were and if he planned to confront his father further about what he had learned but they never talked about what was going on between them. Their two subsequent conversations following that initial one yielded similar results. Lacey seemed content to ignore the figurative elephant wedged between them so he did too...which was the very reason he was so shocked when she showed up at his doorstep that morning unannounced. He hadn't seen it coming.

Danny was still pondering the inexplicable change when he and Lacey walked out to her car together. As she started for the driver's side of the car, he volunteered, "I'll drive." She surveyed him with a narrowed look full of challenge. Danny laughed at her huffy expression and held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I'm not implying anything about your driving," he reassured her, "But I know where we're going. You don't."

"Oh. Right." She peered at him quizzically before she ducked into the passenger's side of the car. "I've been meaning to ask...how do you have the money for your own place? Did your father finally give you back control of your money?"

"Nope," he replied when they were both inside, "I sold my collection."

Lacey gaped at him. "You mean your ancient Egyptian collection?" He nodded. "But...but why?" she sputtered, "You told me that you spent practically your whole life collecting those pieces! Why would you just sell them like that?"

"First of all, I needed the money and second of all, I was collecting them for a purpose...because I was trying to remember who I was. Now that I do remember, I don't need to keep it. I don't want to hold onto the past."

"I still think it's sad," Lacey murmured, "Will that keep you for long?"

"It could keep me for a couple of years if I'm careful with my money," he said, "I just need to find a job in the meantime."

"Don't your grandparents own a huge company themselves? Can't they give you a job?"

His expression abruptly hardened at the question. "I don't want them to give me a job. I don't want their help."

"Why not?"

"I'm not a charity case, that's why! I can make my own way without their help, Lacey, or anyone else's for that matter."

"Even me?"

Danny deliberately avoided answering that question by choosing that moment to shift the car into drive. When he spoke again he changed the subject entirely, making it clear to Lacey that the discussion was over. "Is this okay?" he asked once they were coasting down the street towards their first destination, " You don't mind letting me drive, do you?"

"No, it's fine," she replied, "I trust you."

His lips twisted in a mildly derisive smirk. "Really? That's new."

Lacey made a face at him as he braked for an upcoming red light. "I've always trusted you, Danny," she informed him tartly, "How else do you think you managed to hurt me so much when I thought that you had broken it?"

"Point taken," he murmured.

"Besides," she added, not quite ready to let the argument go, " _you're_ the one who doesn't trust me. Remember?"

He dropped his head forward with a disgruntled sigh. "You know I didn't mean it like that."

"You seem to be saying a lot of things these days that you don't mean 'like that,'" she remarked acerbically, complete with air quotes, "It's like some new nervous tick you have."

Now it was Danny's turn to make a face at her. "I've been trying to be honest with you but you keep taking it the wrong way."

"Are you kidding me? _I'm_ taking it the wrong way?" Lacey exclaimed incredulously, " _You're_ the one saying that you don't trust me, that you don't want to be in a relationship with me and that you're only interested in screwing me and nothing else! How am I taking that the wrong way? Is there a right way to take it?"

Danny compressed his mouth in a thin line, careful to keep his attention trained on the road even as he felt she was unfairly attacking him. "So now we're going to talk about it, huh?" he assessed calmly.

"You're damned right we're going to talk about it now!" she snapped, "Who the hell do you think you are? More to the point, who the hell do you think _I_ am? Do you honestly think you can just reduce our entire relationship to sex and I'm going to be okay with that? Are you _drinking_ again?"

"No!"

"Then what the hell, Danny?"

He stammered for a few seconds, searching for a way to phrase his reply to her in the least offensive terms possible. Finally, however, he simply blurted, "I miss being with you like that, okay! I miss touching you and lying next to you. It's one of the few things in my life that actually feels good and I'd like to keep doing it! Sue me!"

"And you don't miss the rest of it?" she asked in a trembling whisper, "Everything else we had together? Doesn't that mean anything to you anymore?"

"Of course it does, Lacey. I miss _us_. Period."

"Then why are we doing this?" she cried in frustration.

"You know why. I've told you why a hundred times, Lacey. The answer won't change just because you don't want to accept it!"

She rolled her eyes in mocking exasperation. "Yeah, I know. I know. We can't be together. It's too hard...blah...blah...blah... You think I'm going to break your heart." She emitted a theatrical groan. "I think I got it."

"Stop acting like I'm being dramatic! You _have_ broken heart!" he retorted, scowling, "Over and over again!"

"And you've broken mine!" she shot back angrily, "That's what happens when two people are in love, Danny! We screw up and we say things we don't mean but that doesn't mean we don't try again."

"I can't do that. I'm afraid to try," he admitted softly, "I don't want to need you. I don't want to need _anybody_."

"Danny, there's nothing wrong with needing people and letting them be there for you."

"Maybe for some people but not for me."

She scowled at him scornfully. "Why is that? Because you're superhuman and above us mere mortals?"

"No, because I'm a waste of time!" he flared emphatically, stunning her into silence. "Do you remember that night when we were together in my palace and I was worried about the Mitanni attack?" he asked, "Remember how I told you that I felt like I had more enemies than I had friends?"

"I remember. I told you that you should turn your enemies into allies."

"That's right. You did. And listened to your advice. I tried to make peace between my people and the Mitanni and Herit was killed for it."

"You didn't kill her. _King Tushratta_ did. I still believe you did a noble thing," Lacey insisted, "The outcome was tragic but your intentions were pure."

"It doesn't matter. I still have Herit's blood on my hands...and not just hers either," he argued softly, "I can't stop thinking about Clara and what she did for us and who she was _to_ us. She died because she chose to be my friend," he went on, his voice breaking as he spoke, "I feel like I'm this walking bad omen, like nothing good can come from knowing me or being with me. _That's_ why I don't have friends. _That's_ why my family hates me. You have no idea how right you were when you said that loving me is a curse."

"I didn't mean that," she protested in a tear-clogged voice, "I was so messed up over Clara when I said that to you...and I was angry and hurt. But it was wrong. _I_ was wrong. I wish I had _never_ said that to you. I wish I could take it back."

"It wasn't anything I hadn't thought myself," he told her, "You just confirmed what I already knew. I can't imagine us being together and expect a good outcome, Lacey. I can't see it. You're going to leave me or you're going to die or you're going to find someone else you want more than me, I don't know what's going to happen but I _do_ know that I'm going to end up alone just like I always have. The only difference is that now I know that's how it's _supposed_ to be."

"You can't possibly believe that."

"I do."

"Well, you're wrong. I think everything you just said is crap! I think you are so hurt and so afraid after everything that's happened to you that you can't see the good in anything anymore. But it won't always be like this, Danny." She watched him set his jaw in stubborn refusal of acknowledging the truth in her words. Lacey heaved a dejected sigh. "I can't sleep with you again," she told him, "Not when you're in this headspace and thinking this way. It just feeds into this warped view that you have of yourself and I won't do that. I won't help you convince yourself that you're worthless."

"Lacey, you don't-,"

"-And I want there to be more between us than just sex," she continued fervently, "That's not enough for me and it never has been."

He swallowed spasmodically, keeping his eyes trained on the road when he said, "I understand."

"But that doesn't mean I want us to be strangers to each other because I don't want that either," she added quickly, "I want to be your friend, Danny, if you'll let me."

"Have we ever been friends, Lacey?" he wondered aloud, "It seems like we went straight into being lovers and everything else came afterwards..."

"You're right. We did go straight into being lovers," she agreed, "Sex has always been easy for us. It's the rest of it that we had problems navigating. But it's never too late to change that."

He slanted a weary, sideways glance in her direction. "Why would you want to?"

"Because I love you," she said simply, "And, unlike you, I _do_ see a bright future for us one day. You're not a walking bad omen, Danny. You're _going_ to be happy again. _We're_ going to be happy together."

"I'm sorry, Lacey," he murmured, his expression becoming stony with resolve, "I don't believe that."

Lacey was not deterred by his emotional retreat, however. Instead, she smiled at him and said softly, "That's okay. I _do_."


	45. Chapter Forty Four

**Chapter Forty Four**

Breaking down Danny's emotional barriers proved to be a long and arduous process. He didn't actively resist her efforts to get close to him but he also didn't make any overtures towards getting close to her. They spoke when _she_ initiated it. They saw one another when _she_ visited. Which would have been an arrangement that suited Lacey perfectly if she thought for one second Danny gave a damn either way.

He was always unfailingly gracious whenever she called and was willing to listen to her ramble about whatever subject struck her fancy. But as for himself personally, Danny never seemed to be engaged. In the very beginning of their arrangement he never volunteered anything about himself or opened up to her at all. It was as if he was merely humoring her, simply waiting for the day when she would finally grow tired and give up.

Lacey had to admit that in those early days it had been extremely tempting to wash her hands of the whole mess. It frustrated her to no end that he seemed content to let her discover the different events in his life secondhand. When he chose to tell his grandparents the truth about Tara's part in their daughter's death, he had mentioned doing so in an incidental conversation more than a week after it happened. When the authorities decided to reopen the investigation into Karen Desai's death she had found out via the news with the rest of the world. And when Danny returned to Green Grove to give officials his statement about Vikram's possible involvement, he hadn't even mentioned to Lacey that he was in town.

Over and over again, he seemed intent on making it clear to Lacey that he didn't need her. He wanted her to believe that she wasn't a factor in a single decision he made or thought he had. She was pleasant company and an amusing distraction but she was not someone he would allow himself to become invested in.

Despite the pain his indifference caused her, however, Lacey persevered. She continued her weekend visits to Connecticut to see him. She swallowed her pride when she showed up on her third visit to learn from Danny's grandmother that he no longer lived there before being given directions to his new place. She bit her tongue when he failed to share the fact he'd gotten a job or the fact he and his grandparents were bringing a civil suit against his father.

On occasion, when his behavior became too much to bear, Lacey would confront him about his insensitivity and lack of consideration. His answer was always the same. He wasn't forcing her to endure anything she didn't want and she was free to leave whenever she liked. Lacey suspected that was exactly what he wanted her to do. He was trying to drive her away on purpose.

She wasn't surprised to know it either. After all, friendship required a great deal more effort than casual sex. Lacey had no doubts that Danny was terrified, which in turn, prompted him to act like an ass. She knew the reason he was acting the way he was but knowing didn't always lessen the sting. The longer Danny held her at arm's length, the more Lacey died inside.

After four weeks of visits, phone calls and emails, Lacey began to think she was fighting a losing battle. By then she was sleepless, emotional and so stressed out that she was sick to her stomach almost every day. She had even vomited as a result of being so overwrought. The seeming impenetrable wall that Danny had erected around his heart remained as solid as ever. No matter what she did or said or how much patience she displayed she could not break through.

Eventually, Lacey began to grow tired of crying herself to sleep. Her hope that Danny would someday come to trust in her and their love again began to wane. She was nearly at the point of giving up entirely when Danny surprised her and offered her a glimpse of light at the end of a very long and very dark tunnel.

The weekend for the fifth week since she first began driving to Connecticut was fast approaching and Lacey was seriously thinking about forgoing the trip altogether. She seriously doubted if Danny would care if she showed up or not. By that Friday she had determined to herself that she wasn't going to make the trip, that if Danny was done then she would be done too. She never expected that when she returned home from her afternoon class that day she would find him waiting for her on her front porch.

Lacey stumbled from her car with a stunned expression. She blinked several times because she couldn't quite process the fact that Danny was sitting there. "Hey..." she said finally when she found her voice.

"Hey," he replied, "I thought maybe I could come visit you for a change."

That remark seemed to knock Lacey out of her stupor. She regarded him with narrowed eyes and snapped, "Well, you can go right back to wherever you came from because I don't want to see you!"

Danny rolled to his feet. "You're mad at me," he surmised inanely. Lacey crossed her arms and glared at him mutinously, her rigid posture confirming that assessment quite clearly. "I totally get why you would be," he acknowledged softly, "I've been a jerk to you."

"Yes."

"I thought if I was enough of an ass you would eventually give up on me."

"Yes."

Her terse, one word answers were making him nervous but he pressed on nonetheless. "But you didn't give up," he said, "You kept coming around, kept putting up with my crap, kept showing me support and compassion and... I've felt like hell about it this entire time because I haven't given that back to you and that was shitty of me. Really shitty. I've probably even made you cry."

"Yes."

"Can you please say something besides 'yes?'" he cried in exasperation, "I'm opening a vein here."

"When you say something I disagree with then I will."

"I'm sorry," he whispered humbly, "I'd like to make it up to you." He reached into his pocket to produce a gold foiled covered Hershey's kiss, the almond variety and Lacey's favorite. "I brought you this," he offered with a duly chastened expression, "And there's more where this one came from. Come on, Lace. I know you love them."

Lacey compressed her lips tightly to keep from smiling at him. "I really hate you sometimes."

"Oh, if only that were true," he sighed in lamentation.

"And, for the record, you're a lousy friend, Daniel Desai!"

"I don't seem to remember giving you the impression that I wouldn't be," he replied, "But that doesn't mean I can't be better. I _want_ to be better for you, Lacey. You deserve that much." He approached her slowly, his eyes full of entreaty when he asked once more, "Can I please come in and make it up to you?"

Lacey looked away, unable to bear how adorable he looked in that moment with his hair flopping over his eyes. She grunted her grudging concession to his request, however, and thumbed through her key ring for her house key. "But just know this, if you do one thing to piss me off while you're here," she warned him as she sailed past to unlock the door, "I'm kicking you so hard in the junk your balls will become permanently lodged in your chest."

"Okay. Sounds like a deal."

It was after that day that their friendship truly began to blossom because at last it had become a reciprocal relationship. Lacey hadn't needed to ask Danny what prompted him to change his attitude towards her. He had volunteered the information, revealing to her that his grandparents and therapist had provided him with the swift kick in the rear that he needed. Lacey had reacted to the news with surprise.

" _You're in therapy now?_ "

He cringed at the accusation in her tone. "Uh...yeah. For the past month. I probably should have mentioned that to you too."

"My God, Danny!"

That phrase proved to be Lacey's refrain for the ensuing few weeks as she discovered all sorts of tidbits and details about Danny that he had withheld from her before. But she couldn't maintain her annoyance with him, not when Danny was becoming less and less guarded each time they spoke. He began to call her in the middle of the week, at first simply to coordinate their plans for the weekend but then later he just to chat casually.

Inevitably, Lacey became the one to teach Danny all about the subtle nuances of living on his own. She took him on his first real grocery trip and taught him how to select his fruits and vegetables. She showed him how to sort dirty laundry into their appropriate piles for washing. She also taught him how to cook and how to use a kitchen knife properly. There were so many things she did for him that Danny would never be able to enumerate them all or express to her how truly grateful he was to her.

It didn't take too long before he and Lacey began to alternate their weekend visits. She would come to Connecticut one week and then he would travel to Green Grove the next. They even made up a schedule so that even their families would know where they were and when. It became a predictable routine that inevitably set them up to regularly cross paths with Jo and Archie whenever Danny was in town.

They often saw the couple when they went to the movies together or out to dinner or even during the town festivals. It was as if a higher power had decided to throw them into each other's orbit again and again. Eventually, it began to happen with such frequency that Danny started to wonder if the Universe was trying to tell him something. That was the very reason why, when he and Lacey went to Johnnycakes together one evening after catching an early movie and spied Archie and Jo sitting together in their usual booth together, he and Lacey finally decided to yield to their invitation to join them.

"We've been seeing you around town a lot lately," Archie remarked as Danny and Lacey took their seats, "Does this mean you're moving back to Green Grove?"

"No. I just come on the weekends to see Lacey. That's it."

Jo made a small, clucking sound of disappointment. "We just figured with everything going on with your dad that you'd want to come back," she said, "I mean, isn't it pretty much a done deal that he's going to jail for what happened with your mom, at least?"

"Actually, it's not. He didn't kill her. He claims he found out about what Tara had done after the fact. The most the cops can charge him with is obstruction. He'll get a fine and some community service but I doubt he'll do actual jail time."

Archie picked at the edge of his menu, highly aware, like everyone else seated at the table, of the bitterness vibrating beneath Danny's words. "How do you feel about that, bud?"

"I feel like it is what it is."

"That's it?" Archie balked in surprise, "Your father practically gets away with murder and you just shrug?"

Lacey grunted a laugh over his laconic response. "Danny is reserved now, Archie. I think that's the best you're going to get." She and Danny made funny faces at each other while Archie and Jo looked on speculatively, trying to decipher the exact nature of their relationship.

Unaware that they were currently the center of the table's attention, Danny finally tore his focus away from Lacey to address Archie's comment. "It's not that I don't care. But I'm determined not to worry about things I can't change. At least, that's what my therapist suggests."

Jo gave an ironic shake of her head. "I still can't believe you're in therapy."

Danny grunted. "Yeah, neither can I."

Lacey gave his knee a comforting pat and smiled at him. "Just remember it's a good thing," she murmured, "You're making a ton of progress and that's only going to benefit you in the end."

"She's right," Jo added softly, "Sometimes, I talk to you and it feels like you're a completely different person, but not in a bad way," she tacked on quickly when he made a face, "It's good, Danny. It's really, really good." At that one particular moment the atmosphere at the table was relatively tension free. For that reason, Jo decided to ask, "So do you think that it's a coincidence that we keep running into each other like this or that maybe this is a sign that we should try and be friends again?"

Archie placed a quelling hand on her forearm, admonishing her softly. "Jo, we're having a decent time right now," he said, "Let's not make this too heavy, okay. He's sitting with us. It's enough."

Jo shook her head against the advice, however, determined to say her piece. "No, it's not. There's too much history here to ignore it any longer. There's too much between us to let it fizzle into nothing. We miss you, Danny. Don't you miss us...even a little?"

"Yeah," he confessed hesitantly, "I do. I miss you all the time."

"Then can't we..."

"I'm working on it, Jo," he said before she could finish, "I'm here right now, aren't I? I'm trying to make it back to a place where I can trust you both again but that's not going to happen overnight. I need some time. Can you give me that time?"

She favored him with a tremulous smile, her blue eyes full with hope. "Yeah...yeah, sure we can..."

"In the meantime, let's just hang out here together and see where it goes."

Archie too was overwhelmed by Danny's willingness to move past all of their mistakes and he had to clear his throat several times before he could ask, "So do you guys wanna order some food? We were still looking over the menu when you came in."

"Lacey and I ate before the movies so we're not that hungry. We only came in here to split an apple pie and then we were going to head to her place."

At the mention of the gooey, fruity treat, which she had been craving only ten minutes earlier, Lacey suddenly felt an unexplainable queasiness. She swallowed against the suddenly sour taste in her mouth and shook her head. "Maybe you should eat the pie alone," she suggested to Danny, "I don't think I want it anymore."

Her words as well as the expression on her face caused Danny's brow to knit with concern. "Why? Are you feeling sick again?" This had been a running issue for weeks now, with Lacey becoming queasy at random times. A few times it had occurred to Danny that she might be pregnant but Lacey never mentioned the possibility so he didn't either. "Are you going to be okay?" he pressed with rising alarm when he noted the sickly pallor of her skin.

"Give me a minute..."

"If you need to throw up, then just do it. Nobody here cares."

Archie raised his hand. "I care. I don't want to see that." His reward for that remark was Jo's sharp elbow to his ribs. "God woman, you're so vicious," he yelped.

Lacey waited for her current wave of nausea to pass before she stated fiercely, "I'm fine. You can relax. I'm _not_ going to throw up."

Jo watched the entire exchange with a mixture of fascination, horror and amusement. "What's going on here, Lacey? Are you pregnant or something?"

"NO!" both Danny and Lacey cried simultaneously.

Their swift and vehement response only heightened her suspicions. "Are you sure? You get sick a lot when we're at the hospital too."

Lacey fixed Jo with a pointed glare, intensely aware of the three attentive pairs of eyes trained upon her right then. "Not that this needs to be a topic of conversation at this table but I just went off my period a week ago, k," she informed her former nemesis tartly, "Plus I'm on the pill! Plus you have to be having sex to get pregnant and I'm not having sex! So no, Jo, I am not pregnant! End of discussion." She flicked an apologetic glance over at Archie. "Sorry if I scarred you for life, Archie."

He scratched behind his ear, finding it difficult to look her in her eye right them. "Um yeah...no problem."

"There!" Lacey huffed at Jo, "Are you satisfied now?"

"I'm just saying anything is possible..." Jo replied, her tone deceptively casual, "And I'm pretty familiar with the signs."

Her skepticism prompted Lacey to provide more rancorous clarification. "I had an ear infection a couple of months back and it threw off my equilibrium. I've been getting nauseated off and on ever since. It's no big deal! Good grief! You helped me _once_ when we were at the hospital! That doesn't make you an expert on me, Jo!"

Archie cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Well, if you keep getting sick, maybe you should see a doctor about that."

"And maybe you should... _Oh God!_ " The sudden rise of bile in her throat halted Lacey's snappy reply. She clamped her hand over her mouth with a horrified look and bolted from the booth a split second later, darting quickly for the bathroom.

"I guess she had to throw up after all," Danny murmured absently, his brain turning over the possibility Jo had hypothesized only moments earlier. He started to rise from the booth to check on Lacey but Jo caught hold of his forearm when he would have stood.

"It's the _girl's_ bathroom, Danny," she said, "I'll go." When he still appeared hesitant to let her go, Jo pleaded softly, "Let me do this for you. Please."

Finally, he jerked a nod and relaxed his stance. "Thank you, Jo."

She smiled at him in grateful relief. "That's what friends are for, Desai."

Danny sank back down into his seat in a relative daze and watched as Jo disappeared into the bathroom after Lacey. Archie studied his shell-shocked expression carefully. "What's with the look?" he asked.

"Can a girl be pregnant if she gets her period?" he wondered aloud.

"She can't get pregnant if she's not having sex and Lacey said she's not having sex."

"But she did. _We_ did. Almost three months ago. It hasn't happened again since but it happened."

The intimacy of their exchange never struck either of them as strange. They simply fell back into their previous routine of comfort with one another as if no time had passed at all. "Did you use protection?"

"Not a condom. Lacey's been on the pill the entire time we've been together. I haven't used a condom since the first time we had sex."

"Well then, I guess it's pretty possible. Jo is always reminding me that birth control is not 100% effective. We found that out the hard way, remember?" Danny grunted out a short curse beneath his breath, clearly unhappy with the possibility. "I'm taking that this is bad timing for you, huh?" Archie surmised wryly.

"I live in a one bedroom apartment and I work in a hardware store making $9.25 an hour _plus_ Lacey and I don't have that kind of relationship anymore. Yeah, it's bad timing!"

"Danny, your family is loaded. Money shouldn't be an issue. You'll be fine."

" _My family_ is loaded. _I_ am not. I'm not taking a dime from them or anybody else for that matter. I'm done with that life."

"Well, if you've got a kid on the way you're going to have to set aside your pride, dude."

"You don't get it. I _cannot_ have a kid on the way! That is the last thing Lacey and I need right now! A baby will just make her feel tied to me! She and I just starting to become real friends, Archie, _really good friends_. That's all we can be."

"Obviously not if you think you knocked her up."

"No, no, no, you don't understand," Danny protested, "She and I agreed that we're not going back to that. We're in this really good place, this incredible, perfect place and I like it. I like where we are and...a baby...that cannot happen. Not now. Not ever. I have no intention of passing on my twisted Desai genes to anyone. No kid deserves that burden! Besides that, Lacey and I don't even live in the same state for crying out loud! The whole thing is crazy!"

"None of what you mentioned is a deal breaker. You can overcome all of that, Danny. It's pretty obvious that you're still in love with her, so what's the problem?"

"That's not the point."

"Then what is the point?" Archie studied Danny's torn expression. "What's the worst that could happen, Desai?"

"Sorrow, grief and grisly death just to name a few things," Danny answered without hesitation.

Unbelievably, Archie laughed at his brutal summation. "Dude, your paranoia is showing. That's not going to happen."

"It already _has_ happened," Danny emphasized, unsmiling, "I bring misery to whoever is unfortunate enough to love me."

"Have you always been this melodramatic?" Danny growled at him. "Okay okay, so it's true that being your friend hasn't always been easy," Archie conceded mildly, "and it comes with its fair share of risks but what friendship doesn't involve risk? What relationship doesn't? Life is a risk, Danny. Sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet and get over it."

"She _died_ , Archie. She died because she loved me. I can't ever let that happen again."

"No, she died because Jo took an extended ride on the crazy train after you murdered me right in front of her," Archie argued succinctly, "which wouldn't have happened in the first place had I not been such a lousy friend to you. So if you want to blame someone for bringing the misery, you should blame me."

"That makes no sense."

"You're right. Because this situation is totally different."

"But _I'm_ not," Danny retorted stubbornly, "I'm the reason she was kidnapped. I'm the reason her sister died. I'm the reason she's spent the last six months in emotional hell."

"You make her happy," Archie countered in a no-nonsense tone, as if Danny hadn't spoken a word, "Maybe not at this very moment while she's barfing out her intestines but a few minutes ago, when you both were sitting here smiling at each other like goofy, lovesick idiots, I could see it plain as day. You make her happy, Desai. And she makes you happy too." Archie swept up his menu to peruse his entree options. "I'm just saying that maybe you should think about it."

"You're not hearing me. Yes, I love Lacey. I'm always going to love her but I can't be selfish this time around. It can't just be about what _I_ want. I have to think about what I can give to Lacey and if I'm the best thing for her. I have to consider whether or not I'm actually good for her and I don't know that I am."

Archie set aside his menu and regarded Danny with a dumbfounded expression. "Who are you and what have you done with my friend?"

"What are you talking about?"

"It's like you've grown up," Archie remarked with a measure of pride, "Jo was right. You're not even the same person anymore."

"I'm not the same person," Danny murmured, "That was your biggest problem with me, wasn't it? That I was so irresponsible and took so much of what I did have for granted. That's why you resented me, right...then and now?"

"I was wrong for that, Danny, in _both_ lifetimes. I guess I can't blame you for how you chose to cope anymore. I had no idea how bad you had it at home. You should have told me. You should have told Jo. You shouldn't have dealt with that on your own."

"It could have been much worse," Danny considered, "and I could have done better. Truthfully, I didn't always make choices that helped the situation, you know?"

"Neither did I," Archie conceded softly, "I should have told you about me and Jo. I should have told you that I thought the baby was mine. But I didn't keep the truth from you just to screw around."

"I know that. You were just doing what you thought was right for her...because you love her."

"Yeah..."

Danny reached across the table to extend his hand in truce. "So can we just leave it at that? Put the past behind us once and for all."

Archie gripped his hand in a firm shake. "Yeah. I'd like that."

They had just finished resituating themselves in their seats when the girls returned, both looking curiously subdued. "Well," Lacey sighed once she reached the booth, "I think the porcelain gods have been appeased for now."

Danny angled a look up at her. "Do you wanna get out of here?"

Lacey jerked a nod. "I think that would be a good idea."

After saying their goodbyes, Danny started to scoot from the booth when Jo whispered something to Lacey under her breath. Danny wasn't able to quite make it out but whatever she said clearly upset Lacey. She was waving Jo away by the time Danny got to his feet.

"You ready?" she asked him brightly.

"Yeah. Let's go." Once they were outside of the diner and were strolling along the sidewalk together in obvious distraction, Danny turned to Lacey and asked, "So what was that about with you and Jo back there?"

"She thinks I should take a pregnancy test," she revealed reluctantly.

Danny faltered a step, giving Lacey no choice but to stop with him. "Should you?"

"No!" she replied forcefully, "I'm not pregnant. I've gotten my period the past two months. I know my own body, Danny!"

"But Jo thinks-,"

"-I don't care what Jo thinks," Lacey interrupted brusquely, "Jo doesn't know me! Besides that, there's no way in hell I'm taking advice from your nosy sister, of all people! She doesn't know what she's talking about."

"Are you sure?" Danny pressed.

"I'm positive."

Danny slumped forward in relief. "Oh, thank God," he uttered, "If you were pregnant that probably would have been really bad. We definitely don't need a kid right now."

"Right," Lacey agreed even as she felt a baffling sadness over his reaction, "Bad timing for all."

"So, do you want to call it a night then?"

"I thought we were supposed to play cards," she reminded him.

"I didn't know if you were feeling too tired or sick or whatever. If you want a rain check, I'm okay with that. We can do it next weekend."

Lacey responded to that with a dubious snort. "You just don't want to get your ass kicked."

"Excuse me? I am the Uno champion. Nobody beats me, Porter. Nobody."

"That sounds like a challenge, Desai."

"Oh, now you've done it. Bring it."

Forty five minutes later they were seated on opposite sides of Lacey's dining room table as they strategized their next play. Danny was very good at maintaining an unreadable expression so Lacey couldn't discern at all what he had going on in his hand. She had a draw four and a draw two that would effectively demolish him once she played the appropriate colored card. All she had to do was keep her cool and wait for him to fall into her trap.

"It's your turn," Danny prompted after he had made his play, "Let's see what you got."

Careful to keep her face neutral, Lacey demurely laid down her yellow nine, thinking she was setting him up nicely for her blitz attack when Danny unexpectedly unleashed one of his own. He dryly provided running commentary for each play that he made. "Reverse. Skip you. Skip you. Draw two. Draw two. Uno and I'm out." He tossed out his final card with a triumphant smirk. "I win. That makes seven in a row."

Lacey stared at him in mute stupefaction. "That was diabolical."

Danny plucked his shirt in pride. "See? I told you. Uno champion. Nobody beats me."

"This is why I hate playing two person Uno," Lacey grumbled as she gathered the cards together for a shuffle, "Clara used to do the same thing." She stilled at the memory, her eyes suddenly clouding over with the mention of her sister. "God, I miss her."

"Me too," Danny murmured thickly. He was pensive for a beat before he asked, "Do you think she knew?"

"You mean that in her past life she was a surly Egyptian warrior who was also your right hand?" Lacey shook her head in answer to her own question. "No. I don't think she did. She already thought I was crazy for believing you were Tutankhamun in a past life."

"You told her about us?"

Lacey shrugged. "I always told Clara everything. _Eventually_ anyway."

"She really was your best friend, wasn't she?"

"Yep. She was. I mean, I had my friends back home that I hung with but...Clara got me better than anyone. She drove me crazy but...she was my person."

Danny reached across the table to cover Lacey's hand in a commiserative caress. "I know that I'll never be able to replace Clara in your heart," he said, "and I don't want to try but... I can be your person now, Lacey, if that's okay...if that's what you want. "

She favored him with a grateful smile and lightly squeezed his fingers, brushing her thumb idly across the top of his. "Thank you, Danny. I think I'd like that." Lacey didn't know how long they sat like that together, regarding one another in solemn silence when their hands intertwined and fingers gently coasting across each other's skin. However, when the sheer intimacy of the moment finally did strike them, they pulled away from each other almost simultaneously with discomfited grunts. Both she and Danny shifted uncomfortably in their chairs, unable to make immediate eye contact with one another.

Hoping to restore the casual atmosphere between them and distract herself from the sudden tingling in her skin, Lacey resumed shuffling the cards and asked in a nervous stammer, "Do...do you want to play again?"

Equally shaken by the profound moment that had passed between them, Danny shook his head and shifted to his feet. "It's getting late. I should probably get back to my hotel room."

"You know, you don't always have to stay at the inn off the highway," Lacey teased as she walked him to the front door, "My mom would be more than happy to put you up here when you come to visit."

"Thanks for the offer but I think I've put your family out enough," Danny considered softly.

"Are you going back home tomorrow or you think you might stay one more day?"

"Sorry. Gotta work. I'll leave first thing in the morning," he replied softly.

"So I guess this is goodbye then," Lacey determined, filled with dread over the prospect.

Danny bit back a small smile over the disappointment he detected in her tone. "It's just until next weekend," he reminded her, "We're still on for you coming, right?"

"Definitely. Hopefully, you've purchased a better cushion for that futon. I don't think my back will ever be the same."

He laughed to himself when he remembered Lacey's crooked walk the following morning after she had spent the night on that lumpy mattress. "Don't worry. I went out and bought a new one last week," he reassured her, "And, if that one sucks too, you can have my bed and I'll take the futon."

"Deal." They shared a brief embrace before Danny pulled back to dig his car keys out of his pocket. "Call me when you get on the road tomorrow morning," Lacey said as he headed towards the car, "And again when you actually get home."

Danny offered her a snappy salute. "Will do, Sergeant. See you next weekend, Lace."

"See ya, Danny."

He flashed her one last grin before ducking into his car and driving away. Lacey stood in the open door and watched until his taillights disappeared down the street before slinking back inside the house with a muttered curse. She had put on a good face while Danny had been there but now that he was gone anxiety overwhelmed her in full force. She couldn't shake the warning that Jo had given her when they were in the bathroom earlier that night. _Don't you know that antibiotics can make birth control ineffective?_

She _did_ know. The knowledge came much too late but Lacey was well aware of that fact _now_. She had learned that interesting tidbit almost five weeks prior when her constant nausea and abnormally light period had caused her to suspect possible pregnancy back then. Panicked, she had rushed out to the local drug store to purchase a pregnancy test in order to confirm or dispel her worst fears. It had been negative.

Once her apprehension over the whole thing was dispelled, Lacey put the incident out of her mind after that. It had been little more than a scare and she saw absolutely no reason to mention it to Danny. It would have been ridiculous to do so anyway because that had been around the time he was being a colossal jerk to her. And now that their relationship was mended, the whole thing seemed moot now. She wasn't pregnant. They weren't having sex. And, in the meantime, they had become genuine friends. Everything was as close to perfect as it could be except now this pregnancy business was cropping up again.

Lacey seriously doubted that she was. Instead, she was more annoyed over having to even think about it again than any real fear she might be pregnant. After all, she had already taken one test and it had been negative. She was menstruating on schedule. It was true that her periods weren't necessarily as heavy or as long in duration as she was used to but she was still having them. It was highly doubtful that she was pregnant. But, just to be 100% certain, Lacey decided to take the extra test she had left over from her original purchase. She'd pee on the stick, get her negative result and that would be that. Maybe she would even take Archie's advice about seeing a doctor because three months of nausea was probably a little excessive...

Ten minutes later, Lacey was in her pajamas and perched on the edge of the toilet while she waited for the results to read. The instructions said that she might have to wait as long as two minutes for an answer. That was the reason she was so surprised when barely a second after the control window appeared, a distinct positive sign began to darken in the slot next to it. It grew darker and darker and darker, making it impossible for Lacey to mistake its meaning. She picked up the test with trembling fingers, unable to believe her eyes.

"Oh my god..." she uttered, her belly unfurling with the first waves of genuine panic, "This is _not_ going to be good..."


	46. Chapter Forty Five

**Chapter Forty Five**

Danny yanked open the door before Lacey even had a chance to knock. "I cleaned for you!" he announced proudly.

"I can tell," she grunted as she was hit in the face with the unmistakable aroma of household cleaner, "You reek of Pine Sol."

She didn't have the heart to tell him that the smell was making her severely nauseated, not when he was beaming with such excitement. It was so rare these days when Danny flashed a genuine smile and, the times when he did, it was almost like sunshine flooding a dimly lit room. His joy was infectious and she couldn't help but smile a little bit in return, even in spite of her constant, churning misery.

He tugged her inside the apartment. "Come on! Let me show you what I did!"

Lacey allowed him to drag her inside after him but she showed markedly less enthusiasm than he did. She was much too preoccupied with the shocking news she had been grappling with for an entire week. She was pregnant and she had no idea what the hell she was going to do about it. The simplest conclusion was to tell Danny and go from there but Lacey highly doubted it would be so simple.

Danny had told her on numerous occasions that he _never_ wanted to have kids. After everything he had learned about his family and the sick, twisted secrets they had harbored, he was convinced that his genes were tainted. He refused to pass on that defective line to another generation. And, his rampant superstition about that aside, neither of them were in a real financial position to bring a child into the world. Danny was a disowned college dropout with a minimum wage job, who refused to have anything to do with Desai associated money. She was an unemployed college student who still lived at home with her mother. She wasn't even the legal age to drink alcohol yet! How the hell was she supposed to be someone's mother?

Furthermore, she and Danny lived in different states, the travel distance between them more than six hours. They weren't in a romantic relationship and likely never would be again. Danny still struggled with PSTD and rampant paranoia. She was still grieving the loss of her sister. They were coping and improving but they were nowhere near healed. Lacey had no idea how they were supposed to navigate raising a baby together when day to day living on their own presented such a challenge.

So then she was presented with her second option, to not tell Danny about the pregnancy at all. He would probably be better off not knowing. He wasn't ready for a kid. She wasn't ready for a kid. The most logical solution then was to terminate the pregnancy. There was only one problem with that. Lacey wasn't sure she could go through with something like that alone.

Her thoughts were still a confused jumble when Danny steered her into his newly scrubbed galley kitchen. "Taa daa! Witness the wonder."

Lacey surveyed the sparkling surfaces with a wan smile. "Wow. It's look good in here, Danny."

"Good?" he scoffed in response to her weak compliment, "It's _immaculate_ in here. Note how the counters gleam with a polished shine. I even scraped every last piece of burnt crud off of the stove. And this floor is so clean you can eat off of it. Or...er...at least you _could_ eat off of it before we started tracking our dirty shoes in here."

It was impossible to remain immune to his boyish enthusiasm and she laughed a bit. "I'll take your word on it."

Despite her humor, however, her words were heavy with fatigue, a fact that didn't escape Danny's keen attention. He surveyed her with a thoughtful frown, fully taking in her haggard appearance. "You're tired, aren't you?" Lacey answered with a weary nod. "Long trip?"

"The longest. I feel like I could drop just standing here."

"You've been tired a lot lately," he noted softly.

Lacey grunted her agreement. "I guess school is taking it out of me."

"You want to take a nap?" Danny offered, "We don't have to go out right away if you're not feeling up to it, Lacey."

She favored him with an uncertain look. "Are you sure you don't mind? I know how much you want to see that new Avengers movie."

"If we miss the matinee then we'll just catch a later show," he said, "Go lay down. You look wiped."

"Thanks, Danny."

He insisted that she lie down in his bed, staunchly ignoring her protests to the contrary. In the end, Lacey was too tired to fight him on it and gratefully curled up in the center of his queen sized bed. She burrowed her face in his pillow, inhaled the lingering smell of his body wash and fell asleep to the soothing sound of the shower spray. When she awakened again, the interior of the bedroom was much dimmer, indicating that the sun was going down. Danny lay beside her on the bed, his face mere inches from her own. She opened her eyes to find him watching her with a pensive expression. Lacey frowned at him in befuddlement.

"What?" she croaked groggily, "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Are you pregnant?" he asked softly.

She briefly considered lying to him but then discarded the idea. "Yeah, Danny. I am."

Danny rolled onto his back with a soft curse of consternation. "I knew it."

Lacey rose up onto her elbow to regard him. "How?"

"You've been sick and tired for weeks now. I thought that maybe that's what it could be but when you didn't say anything I just figured..." He trailed off into silence and turned a penetrating look towards her. "All the signs were there," he considered aloud, "You had the morning sickness, the cravings, the fatigue. Even your body is starting to change."

She blinked at him with a dubious frown. "What about my body?"

"It's different," he murmured, ticking off the observations aloud more for his own benefit than for Lacey's, "You seem like you've gotten rounder...softer in certain places, like your hips and your thighs. _Especially_ your breasts."

Lacey checked the urge to cover herself. "What exactly do you know about my breasts, Danny?"

"I look at you, Lacey. All the time." He didn't elaborate further as to what he meant by that statement but, for Lacey, it was fairly self-explanatory. She was still trying to figure out how the admission made her feel when Danny asked, "What do you want to do about it?"

"Well, obviously I can't have it," she said, "I just got accepted into the nursing program. From what they told us in orientation, it's going to be grueling and it's going to take all of my focus. That doesn't leave a lot of time for a baby."

"So you want to get an abortion?" he surmised grimly.

"It's for the best, don't you think?"

She asked the question as if she was hoping that Danny would talk her out of it. He didn't know if he could do that, however, no matter how conflicted he felt at the moment. Archie's words kept swirling around in his mind again and again but he remained hesitant to voice his feelings aloud. He didn't want to influence Lacey at all. Whatever decision she made would affect her future in one way or another for a long time to come. He didn't feel he had the right to nudge her in any particular direction.

Feeling helpless, Danny threw his forearm over his eyes with a heavy groan. "Why didn't you tell me the truth last weekend when I asked you? You swore that it wasn't even a possibility!"

"I didn't know then. I took the test after you left."

He lifted his arm to regard her. "Have you seen a doctor yet?"

"I went to the clinic on campus," she said, "They confirmed it. I'm about ten weeks along so, if I'm going to terminate, I need to do it soon."

"Why?"

"In just a few weeks, I'll be in my second trimester," she explained, "and if you terminate then, it becomes a more complicated procedure. There's no way I'll be able to get it done without my mom finding out."

"God..." Danny melted back into the mattress and closed his eyes. "Just fantastic."

"I wasn't even going to tell you," she whispered, "I figured what was the point of burdening you when I probably wasn't going to go through with the pregnancy anyway."

His eyes flashed at that. "I'm glad I know," he told her firmly, "I want to know these kinds of things." When she nodded in acknowledgement of his feelings, Danny said, "So, I guess that means you got pregnant when..."

"...when I came to your house that night Tara was going to be arraigned," Lacey concluded softly.

"Or when I came to you that next night and we had sex in your room," he added in speculation.

"Yeah...that too."

Danny reared upright. "But I thought you were taking the pill. Did you miss a day?"

The mild censure in his tone immediately raised Lacey's defensive hackles. "Birth control isn't just _my_ responsibility, Danny!" she grated, "It's not like you were all that eager to wrap it up either, Mr. 'I hate condoms because they dull the sensation.'"

"I didn't know I needed to use one!" he retorted.

"Well neither did I!" Lacey flung back hotly. They glared at one another in testy standoff before Lacey relaxed and retreated. "I was taking antibiotics at the time," she explained, "I didn't realize they were going to screw with my birth control until after the fact. Jo even told me that she thinks that's how she got pregnant too."

"Great."

"I'm just telling you what I know."

Danny expelled a thoughtful grunt. "I guess that's the reason you guys were in the bathroom for so long that night."

"Well, I was yakking my guts up too but yeah, that was part of the reason."

He dragged both hands down his face with an expansive sigh. "I can't believe you're actually pregnant."

"It's still early enough to change that, Danny."

He regarded her with a penetrating stare. "Is that what you really want?"

"I don't know what I want except that I want food," she answered him crabbily, "I'm starving to death! I've been ravenous lately."

"You want me to make you a grilled cheese sandwich?" he offered.

"That sounds great."

Lacey waited at the counter that served as a delineation between the living room and the kitchen. She perched herself on one of the barstools there and watched as Danny prepared her sandwich, marveling at how much he had accomplished in such a short while. Six weeks ago he hadn't even known how to go grocery shopping on his own much less how to prepare a meal. His refrigerator had contained a carton of eggs, a jar of mayonnaise and a six pack of Coke. He had been living on a steady supply of takeout and junk food. Now his refrigerator was amply stocked with a variety of foods and he was able to prepare his own meals. Lacey watched him presently and couldn't help but beam inwardly with pride.

Danny caught sight of her wistful expression in his peripheral vision as he flipped her sandwich. "Now _you're_ staring at _me_ ," he pointed out wryly, "What? Am I doing something wrong? Too much butter or not enough?"

"Neither. I'm just really proud of you."

"For what?" he scoffed, "Knocking you up? Totally screwing up your life? Oh yeah, no one does it better than me."

"Stop that. We did that together. I wanted to sleep with you that night. I don't regret it."

He bounced a startled glance her way. "You don't?"

"No. Not one little bit."

Danny finished browning her sandwich and then delivered it to her on one of the plates his grandmother had recently purchased for him. Lacey smacked her lips in anticipation. "It looks delicious."

"It should," he replied with an ironic smile, "You're the one who taught me how to make them."

Lacey took a bite and released a long satisfied moan. "So good..." she managed around a gooey mouthful, "Clearly, the student has become the master." Danny stood there and listened to her low hums of enjoyment, watching as her face softened with enjoyment with each bite she took. Her expressions were so similar to the ones she would make when she was close to orgasm that Danny felt a little embarrassed when his body started to respond to the sounds she was making. He bent over to brace his elbows against the counter in an effort to hide his reaction.

He wasn't made of stone. They had agreed to keep their relationship strictly platonic and he was amenable to that but that didn't mean that he had stopped wanting her because he had not. Lacey had no idea how many times he had masturbated furiously to thoughts of her while she slept soundlessly in the next room. By this point in their friendship, she had to think he was obsessed with doing laundry due to how many times as he was forced to do a wash whenever she visited. He wanted her all the time and, much to his shame, most particularly at that moment when she was agonizing over a pregnancy she didn't want...and all because she was eating a grilled cheese. _Pathetic..._

But Danny didn't just miss the sex, he missed her which, in turn, made him miss the sex more. He also missed the intimacy between them. In many ways, they still had that. They talked about things just as they had before but without the pressure of maintaining a romantic relationship. However, Danny was finding more and more lately that he _wanted_ the romantic aspect too. He didn't think he deserved it. He was almost certain he was going to screw it all to hell. Still, he wanted it nonetheless. He wanted forever with her and he always had. It simply boiled down to him being too afraid to try. But now, with a child involved, Danny no longer had that luxury. He had to put up or shut up.

Carefully masking his wandering and conflicting thoughts, Danny asked when she finished polishing off her sandwich, "Did you get enough to eat? I'm not sure you even chewed."

"Actually, I could go for another."

"Is that a subtle hint to me?"

"Nope. It's an outright request that you make me another grilled cheese," she said, "Hop to it, Desai."

Danny made a furtive adjustment to his crotch before crossing over to the refrigerator to gather the ingredients he needed to assemble another sandwich. As he buttered the bread he asked her, "So when do you want to do it? The...uh...the abortion, I mean?"

"I don't know," Lacey mumbled, "I highly doubt there are any clinics open on the weekend which means I'm going to have to skip a class and go during the week."

"I'll go with you," Danny volunteered before he had completely thought it through, "Just let me know the day and I'll be there."

"Danny, you don't have to do that."

"Yes, I do. It's my kid too. My responsibility." He swallowed spasmodically before he added, "I'll even pay for it if...if you want to go through with it." Danny knew he couldn't ask her outright not to do it. After all, it was _her_ body and _her_ choice but he also wanted to make it clear to her that he would be amiable to it if she changed her mind.

"I'm not expecting that," she muttered.

"I know," he whispered, "But it's the right thing to do. Either way, whether you decide to have the baby or not, I want to be there for you, Lace."

By the time he delivered the second grilled cheese to her, Lacey found that she had lost her appetite. Casually discussing the details of her planned abortion had done much to subdue her spirits. Although it was a routine procedure performed on hundreds of women every day it didn't feel all that routine to her. Lacey could not shake the awareness that it was _her_ child she was contemplating terminating. This was a baby that she and Danny had created together, a child who had been conceived in love. Under different circumstances, she would want the baby without reserve. But the truth was she was single, young and inexperienced and she wasn't ready to be anybody's mother. Knowing that didn't make her decision any easier.

Dejected, Lacey slid from the barstool, her heart suddenly feeling like a leaden weight in her chest. She knew if she stayed there one second longer, she was going to burst into tears which would probably only confuse Danny since all of this had been _her_ idea in the first place. "Do you think we could go out to the movies tomorrow instead?" she asked in a thickened tone, "I'm not really up to going out tonight."

She barely heard his reply because she was already turning towards his bedroom. Lacey walked inside and shut the door behind her. She wasn't exactly certain how long she lay curled up in the center of his bed crying her eyes out. It seemed like an eternity. But then she felt the mattress dip behind her and Danny's arms encircle her tenderly and Lacey turned in his embrace and cried even harder. Danny cradled her closer as she sobbed into his chest.

"D-Damn h-hormones!" she wept.

He tipped his head down to see her face. "Is that what this is?"

Lacey sniffled. "I...I...d-don't w-want...t-to...w-want this b-baby..." she confessed brokenly.

Danny lifted his hand and began gently whisking away the falling tears from her wet cheeks. "But you do, don't you? You want this baby?"

"I...I k-keep th-thinking about...th-that first baby...w-w lost and...and I d-don't...kn-know if I can...g-go through w-with it!"

"You don't have to if you don't want," Danny murmured.

"Yeah right," she snorted as her tears died down into hiccups, "L-Like you r-really want to b-be a d-dad! Y-You don't even w-want us t-to b-be together!"

"That's not true."

"Th-Then why aren't we t-together, Danny?" she sniffled.

"Because I'm a coward and an ass." Lacey blinked up at him with wide, limpid eyes, afraid to make a response to that statement. "I know what it feels like to want something so bad but, at the same time, be so afraid that you won't be able to handle it if you have it. It's paralyzing."

"That's how you've been feeling about me?" she concluded hoarsely.

Danny nodded in confirmation. "You and now the baby too. Honestly, the whole thing terrifies me."

"It terrifies me too!" Lacey cried softly, "I don't know what to do. This is the worst timing imaginable but I don't know if I can go through with an abortion. I just don't..."

"So don't go through with it," he urged her.

"And do what?" she snorted.

"Raise the baby with me."

Lacey reared back a little, her expression slackening with shock. "Wait a minute...what are you saying to me right now?"

"Listen, I don't know how this is going to work out," Danny sighed, "I don't know if I'm good for you or not. I don't know if I'll be able to make you happy or not. But I _do_ know that I want a future with you and I always have. I _do_ know that I want a life with you and I'm tired of fighting that."

They were the words she had been waiting for him to speak for the better part of six months but it was also a truth Danny had been resisting for just as long. Before her heart could burst out of her chest and soar around the room with happiness, Lacey had to be sure he was being honest about what he wanted. She peered at him speculatively.

"Are you saying all of this because you really want to be with me or because I'm pregnant?"

"Both." When she started to roll away from him in moaning disappointment, Danny held her fast and whispered in a soothing tone against her temple, "Okay, yeah, yeah, it's true that we probably wouldn't be having this conversation now if you weren't pregnant, Lace. But you know and I know that we would have been having it eventually.

"You told me a long time ago that I was going to be happy again," he recounted softly, "that we were going to be happy together and you were right. These last couple of months have been some of the happiest of my entire life."

"But we've only been friends," Lacey argued.

"So what? I've been in love with you the entire time." She stared at him in stunned silence. "Don't look at me like that."

"You just...you haven't said the words, Danny. Not in a long, long time."

"Did you really need me to say them to know how I felt?" he whispered, "You've owned me all along, Lacey. Why the hell do you think I'm so terrified?"

"Why?" she pressed him, "That's something I don't understand. Haven't I proven to you that you can trust me by now?"

"You know why," he mumbled, "You don't love me the way I love you."

Lacey rolled upright with the admission, blinking at him incredulously. "You can't be serious."

He stared up at her in challenge. "Am I wrong?"

"Hell yes, you're wrong! Danny, these past six months, you have not been an easy person to love! Not in the least. You've been shut down and cold and sometimes you made me question if you still loved me at all but I'm still here! _I'm still here._ Why do you think that is?"

Danny bit back a smile as her words finally permeated the thick shell of ice surrounding his heart. "Because you love me."

"Ding, ding, ding! You get a gold star," she replied tartly, "So don't ever say anything like that again! It's untrue and it's demeaning to the both of us."

"Yes ma'am."

She relaxed against him once more, snuggling close against his flank. "God, if I had known that was what was in your head all these months, I would have set you straight a long time ago and spared us both months of misunderstanding!"

"So now what?" he wondered softly.

"Now we figure out what we're going to do about the baby."

"I thought we already did," he said, "We're going to raise it together."

"You were just talking out of your ass then. How is that going to work, Danny? You live here in Connecticut," she reminded him glumly, "I live in New York."

"So I'll move back to Green Grove."

She tipped a glance up at him. "You can't do that. You hate it there."

"I can't hate anyplace where you are, Lace."

"But your grandparents will be so disappointed. They'll hate me for taking you away from them."

"They love you and you know it. Next argument."

"What about your lease? You just signed it."

"I guess I'll just have to break it."

"You're talking about being out of a lot of money if you do that," Lacey warned, "It's not like I can compensate you. I don't have a job and neither will you if you come back to Green Grove."

"I have thousands of dollars in my savings account and, if that's not enough, I'll sue my father for my damned inheritance if I have to," he told her, "Financially we'll be fine, Lacey."

"But that goes against everything you wanted for yourself."

"I told you already. This isn't about just me anymore. This is about you and our kid. Being a parent means you have to make hard sacrifices sometimes. You have to be willing to put yourself aside. My father never understood that. I'll be damned if I repeat his mistakes."

"What about therapy?" she argued further, "You can't just quit in the middle, Danny."

"You know it's funny that psychologists can be found in all fifty states," he retorted in a mocking tone, "I'll get a referral. Try again, Porter."

"I live with my mother," she pointed out as her final excuse.

Danny actually smiled at that. "Then I guess you and I should probably move in together."

Lacey couldn't quite allow herself to soar into orbit with delight just then. She had one lingering reservation that kept her tethered to the ground. "What about school?" she whispered, "I don't want to lose my spot, Danny. I don't want to drop out. I have to finish."

"You _will_ finish nursing school, Lacey," Danny vowed fiercely, "Whatever I have to do to support you, I will do it but you _will_ graduate with your nursing degree. I promise you."

"I feel like you're only saying this stuff because I'm pregnant and you want to be responsible," she muttered, "But I don't want you to feel obligated to me or this baby."

"There are a lot of things I feel for you," he replied in a vibrating whisper, "and 'obligation' is not on that list, Lacey."

"Oh yeah?" she whispered back, "Things like what?"

"Things like this." Danny said nothing further after that but drew her closer for the kiss he had been craving for months now.

He kissed her softly at first, sweet and tentative, as he took his time reacquainting himself with the voluptuous contours of her mouth. Danny also wanted to give her the opportunity to reject him if kissing him wasn't what she wanted. But his concern was needless. Lacey knew exactly what she wanted. She fit her body closer to his and kissed him back with the same languid ardor, allowing herself to get lost in the familiar taste of him.

They didn't rush like the previous times between them nor were they governed by unbridled lust or the fear that it might be fleeting. Instead, they took their time touching, tasting, caressing, nibbling gently at every bit of exposed skin because they knew they had all night. They knew they had forever. Danny took every moment afford to him to explore the smooth valleys and supple peaks of Lacey's toned body. He worshipped her newly developed curves with his hands and finally with his body.

Their clothing fluttered away, falling to the floor to created a growing pile on the floor surrounding his bed. For the most part, they were unusually quiet, almost reverent in their coupling with only the rhythmic squeak of the bed and their own hitched breathing to permeate the silence. When the crest began to build and build, heightened further and further by straining, frenetic bodies, Lacey and Danny toppled over the edge together, crying out each other's names.

When he felt like he could breathe again and his heart wasn't going to pound right through his chest wall, Danny shifted behind Lacey and spooned against her. Lacey released a contented little moan when she felt his hand fall to her lower abdomen in a loving caress. He didn't need to tell her that he was thinking about their baby right then. She was thinking about it too.

"Are you sure you still want to do this?" she asked him in an uncertain tone, "It's not too late to change your mind."

"I've known I wanted to do this since the first day we met, Suhad," he replied sleepily, "I know exactly what I'm getting."

Lacey digested that with a small smile. Her joy over his response was altogether short-lived, however, and soon she was frowning again. "My mother is going to kill me," she predicted direly. Danny grunted in drowsy agreement. His swiftness in doing so had Lacey adding rather peevishly, "And you too, you know!"

Danny released a low, self-deprecating groan. "I have to tell my grandparents," he realized with a large measure of dread, "They're going to think I'm the most irresponsible person on the planet." He scowled to himself, the thought suddenly chasing away all remnants of sleep. "Maybe I am. This is the second time in a little more than a year that I've had to tell my family I'm going to be a father. It's becoming habitual at this point."

"The first time doesn't count because Jo was being a lying liar who lies."

His lips twitched at her brutal assessment. "You have to admit that she's gotten better."

"She's tolerable," Lacey admitted grudgingly, "I'm still a long way from trusting her though."

"Understandable, but..."

"... _But_ ," she said, responding to his unspoken prompting, "I don't guess she's quite the homicidal lunatic I made her out to be...at least not in this life."

"That's a start, I guess."

Lacey twisted a questioning look over her shoulder at him. "A start for what?"

"I've been thinking about letting her back into my life again...her and Archie both." Danny allowed some time for that statement to sink in before he asked, "Do you think you'll be okay with that?"

"Do I have a choice?" The irritation in her tone was tangible.

"Yeah, you do," Danny told her, "I'm not asking you to agree to anything that you find unacceptable, Lacey, but I want to be upfront with you. If it's too much to ask, I'm not going to be mad if you want to bail."

"And it's just that easy for you to let me go?" she asked with a bit of disappointment.

"It's not easy," he whispered, "It's never been easy. But, if I've learned one thing in this past year, it's that loving someone isn't about doing what's best for you. It's about doing what's best for _them_. From this point forward, you and the baby come first...no matter what."

Some of the hostility drained from her features with his humble reply. "Well, it's a two way street, Danny, and it's not like I'm surprised," she sighed, "I know how much you still love them, okay, especially Jo. And I know, in her own way, she loves you back. You need that. You need to be surrounded by people who love you."

"I'm not saying that she and I are going to be instant best friends again," he prefaced, "I'm saying that I want to _try_."

"Okay."

"Are you sure it's okay?" he pressed.

She lifted her head to peck him soundly on the mouth. "I'm sure." To emphasize the conviction in her words, Lacey brought Danny close against her once again and cradled him against her breast so that she could idly stroke his hair. "So what's next on the agenda?"

"I guess we tell our family," he sighed, "We can do that together next weekend when I visit."

"I suppose we'll be doing that for a while, huh?" Lacey considered aloud in a glum tone.

Danny tipped a curious look up at her. "Doing what?"

"Commuting back and forth...at least until we get this whole thing figured out."

"Why do we need to commute?" Danny wondered, "Why can't we just live together now? We can find an apartment together. Better yet, why can't we go one better and get married?"

Lacey reared upright in sputtering shock, jostling him aside. "I'm sorry...you wanna _what_?"

"It's a foregone conclusion, isn't it?" Danny reasoned mildly, "I know it's not the most romantic proposal in the world and I swear I'll get you a ring and do it right but-,"

"-You're not kidding, are you?" Lacey breathed in interruption before he could finish, "You're seriously suggesting that we get married?"

Danny blinked at her, as if he couldn't understand why she was having such a difficult time with the concept. "Yeah..."

"Are you feeling guilty because I'm pregnant?" she fretted, "Is that why you're doing this? You've gone from being completely anti-relationship to the whole nine yards with a white picket fence. It's kind of freaking me out."

"My feelings aren't _new_ , Lacey. I just haven't told you about them."

"A convenient excuse."

He rolled his eyes at her mumbled skepticism. "Lacey, don't act like you haven't known all along that I'm still in love with you. I've been trying to marry you for literal centuries. This is definitely what I want. Guilt has nothing to do with it."

"Okay...then ask me," she breathed softly, "Ask me to marry you."

"I just did."

"No, _really_ ask me. Just now you made a _suggestion_ , like some kind of business arrangement and that's not how I want us to start a life together. You have to ask me for real, Danny."

"Right now?" he balked, "When you and I are naked and I have no ring?"

"Yes!"

Although it was clear he found the request unorthodox, Danny climbed from beneath the covers with a muttered grunt of concession and knelt at the bedside. He gathered Lacey's hand between his own and regarded her with as much somber sincerity as a man in the buff could muster. "Lacey Nicole Porter, you are the love of my life and the future mother of my child. I can't imagine anyone else that I would want to spend my life with. Will you mar-?"

She was flinging her arms around his neck and half tackling him to the ground with an enthusiastic "yes" before he even finished asking the question. They tumbled back to the floor in a laughing tangle of arms and legs as Lacey peppered his face with kisses, punctuating each one with a happy "yes!"

"You know what this means?" he murmured against her lips when some of their giggles had died down, "Now you're stuck with me for life! I can't ever let you go again."

Lacey nuzzled against him. "And you know what else this means?" Danny shook his head. "I was right."

Danny peered up at her quizzically. "You were right about what?"

"You," she whispered as she coaxed him closer for another kiss, "I told you that you make me happy, Danny. Even when you make me sad, you somehow make me happy too. And no one does that better than _you_."


	47. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

"Daddy! Daddy, look! There's my mommy! I see my mommy!" From her perch atop her father's sturdy shoulders, an excited four year old Kara Sahira Desai smooshed her father's cheeks between her small hands and needlessly directed his attention to the stage where her mother was receiving her diploma. "See? Do you see my mommy?"

"Yeah, baby," Danny chuckled affectionately, "I see your mommy."

"Kara Desai," Judy admonished her only grandchild gently as she pulled the squirming little girl from her perch, "What did we say about this being a dignified occasion and you being on your best behavior?"

"But I used my inside voice," Kara defended in a loud stage whisper.

Danny half listened to their exchange with a wistful smile, marveling over all they had endured to finally reach this one, momentous event. Lacey was taking her last steps towards achieving a lifelong dream. Their marriage was strong and thriving. And he, after what seemed like a lifetime of insecurity, had found happiness and peace. It had been a hard won fight to be sure. He and Lacey certainly hadn't had an easy time of it in the beginning. Their families had been understandably disappointed when they learned of Lacey's pregnancy and had even raised conscientious objections when Danny and Lacey informed them of their intentions to get married.

Their reservations had been the standard variety. They were too young. They hadn't yet figured out what they wanted to do with their lives. They were too emotionally fragile to take on the responsibilities a family would bring them. They didn't have to rush into marriage so quickly. Danny and Lacey had calmly acknowledged the logic behind each of their arguments and then had made it abundantly clear that they were going to get married anyway.

As he and Lacey had discussed, Danny broke the lease on his new apartment and afterwards he and Lacey began immediately looking for a two bedroom place together in Green Grove. Around that same time, a judge finally granted Danny's request to become executor of his own estate based on the extenuating circumstances surrounding Tara's death. Danny, at last, was able to take full control of his inheritance. He remained hesitant to touch the money but he was grateful it was there in the event he would need it.

His first order of business after coming into control of his estate was to fire his father as acting CEO of Desai Corp. The authorities might not have had a valid reason for touching Vikram Desai but Danny had made up his mind that, as far as he was able, he wasn't going to allow his father to go unpunished for his crimes. Danny promptly replaced Vikram with Kyle Masterson, entrusting the man with the company until such a time when Danny had gained the education and experience to take the helm personally. Kyle Masterson had felt humbled and undeserving of the honor, however.

While he had been grateful for Danny's confidence in him, he was also riddled with guilt over how he had treated Danny previously. He couldn't forgive himself for how quickly he had written Danny off on the basis of his daughter's lies. Danny, on the other hand, held no ill will against the man and even expressed understanding over Kyle's reaction. He was certain that had he been in the same position with his own daughter, he wouldn't have responded any differently. His reassurance did little to assuage Masterson's guilt.

It had taken Danny several months and several proposals before he finally convinced Kyle to take the job. Still, Masterson accepted only _after_ they had drawn up an iron clad contract listing Kyle as merely the company's acting figurehead while Danny retained full privileges as the company's chief executive officer. Desai Corp. remained primarily in Danny's control with Kyle Masterson acting as his advisor.

With that part of his life squared away Danny was able to turn his full attention towards marrying Lacey. After living together almost two months, the two became officially husband and wife a little less than a week before Lacey reached her 20th week of pregnancy. That morning on the eve of their nuptials they had lain in bed together, giggling together like two school children as they imagined the life they would share together.

"I can't believe I'm going to be your wife," Lacey whispered. Even in the murky light of morning he could detect her happy grin. Danny couldn't help but return it. "I'm really excited."

"Me too. I can't believe I'm going to be _your_ husband," he countered, snuggling closer to her, "I swear I'm going to spend the rest of my life trying to make you happy." He thought she might fall back asleep soon after that but she giggled again. Danny lifted his head to peer down at her curiously. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing...nothing..." she dismissed but she ruined the avowal by more smiling and giggling.

"What?" Danny growled against her shoulder.

"I was just thinking about something Clara said to me about you once."

"Why? What did she say?"

Lacey covered her face in laughing embarrassment. "I can't repeat it. It was so wrong. I don't even know why it popped into my head."

"Oh, _now_ you definitely have to tell me."

She favored him with a stern look. "Danny, no."

"Lacey, yes."

Losing her battle against grinning at him, Lacey sighed with a mixture of exasperation, amusement and chagrin and said, "It was right after you and I met and I guess I was moping around the house after everything that happened because I thought you were all 'hit 'em and quit 'em...'"

"Uh-huh?"

She started to laugh anew as the details of the memory resurfaced. "And then Clara was like, 'Damn Lacey, what did he do to you? That must have been some superfly Mandingo d!' I was so horrified but she was always saying stuff like that. I miss it."

Danny choked out a stunned laugh. "What? She said _what_?"

"Like I said, I don't even know why I thought of it," she chuckled again.

His expression took on a smug quality then. "Oh, I know why you thought of it," he growled playfully, shifting around so that he could scoot between her legs. He nipped at her neck in exaggerated seduction. "I put it on you when we're in bed, that's why. You can't wait for the honeymoon."

"Oh my God," Lacey chortled, half shoving him away, "You did _not_ just say that out loud!"

"What can I say? The Mandingo d don't lie, baby." Danny circled his hips against her which only made Lacey laugh harder.

"Okay, stop it! Stop talking! Now I'm embarrassed for you."

Danny's smile faded abruptly as he stared down at her in the pale sunlight that filtered through their curtains. "I miss her, you know," he whispered somberly, "I miss her a lot. I wish she could be there with us tomorrow."

Lacey nodded and pulled him closer for a nuzzle, her laughter suddenly becoming an acrid lump of sorrow in her throat. "Yeah, me too."

The next day they were married in a small civil ceremony that was ultimately witnessed only by Jo and Archie. They had even delayed the ceremony a few minutes in the hopes that their families would make a last minute appearance. They didn't. But while it stung not to have their families' initial support, Lacey and Danny were determined not to let their absence sadden them. They were comforted by the fact that they had each other.

The ensuing four and half months following their nuptials was absolute bliss. The young couple spent all of their available time together in between school and work, made love constantly and occupied themselves with preparing for the impending birth of their daughter and marveling over each milestone Lacey made in her pregnancy. Lacey's condition didn't cause her to fall behind in her nursing classes at all, not even when the added weight she was carrying began to take a toll on her back, hips and feet. It wasn't easy but she powered through.

Her professors generously worked with her to ensure that Lacey had the greatest success. She and Danny were even able to plan it so that her labor would be induced while she was on break for the semester. In Lacey's mind, it was all neatly packaged. She would have the baby while on break and then return to school as scheduled. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. It was easy for her and Danny believed they had a firm handle on the future. Unfortunately, their unborn daughter had other plans and decided to shake up their world a little.

Lacey went into labor a week before her scheduled induction, right in the middle of finals week. She labored with Kara for 22 grueling hours before her progress abruptly halted. Several drug interventions later both Lacey and the baby were in distress and the decision was made to perform an emergency c-section. Their daughter was born at 1:47 a.m. weighing in at a petite 6 pounds, 6 ounces. She was named for her deceased grandmother and aunt and she was, quite possibly, the most beautiful baby either of them had ever seen. They hadn't been able to get enough of touching her miniature hands and feet or oohing and ahhing over her full head of dark, curly hair.

Kara's impending birth had effectively ended the protracted silence between them and their respective families. Judy Porter and the Kincaids had begun making overtures shortly after Danny and Lacey were married. There had simply been no way that Judy wasn't going to be at her eldest daughter's side when she gave birth to her first child. Once Kara was born, however, it was a done deal. Their families would not be held at bay. Judy Porter and Cam and Mimi Kincaid couldn't have been pried away from their brand new baby granddaughter with a crowbar. Consequently, by the time little two day old Kara Desai was discharged from the hospital with her mother she left it with ten times more stuff than when she had first arrived. She had tons of clothing, stuffed animals, two types of strollers, a swing, a playpen and activity mat just to name a few. Danny's grandparents had been good enough to have most of those things delivered directly to Lacey and Danny's apartment but the rest was left for them to take home directly. Danny had been forced to enlist Archie's help to transport because he was unable to pack all of the new baby paraphernalia in his newly purchased family car.

With so much assistance from their friends, family and the attending nurses, Danny and Lacey were inevitably lulled into a false sense of security where it pertained to caring for a newborn. They didn't anticipate that Kara would not sleep nearly as much as she had in the hospital. They didn't factor in the lengthened recovery time Lacey would need due to her c-section. They hadn't anticipated the almost constant attention a newborn would require. They were, quite frankly, in for a rude awakening.

Their precious little angel soon became a squalling demon after they brought her home. Kara Desai _never_ slept. She ate and cried and pooped, sometimes doing all three things simultaneously. But sleep? She wasn't acquainted with that concept at all. And, unfortunately, it became an impossible endeavor for her parents as well. Lacey was rarely afforded a moment to study for her missed finals because when she wasn't loopy from pain medication, she was feeding the baby and changing the baby and rocking the baby and trying not to go insane because of the baby.

Danny was in no better shape. He worked during the day and then assumed care for Kara at night because, by the time he returned home, Lacey had clearly had it. He had hoped she could use the time to study but usually she was too sleep-deprived to do anything other than catch a quick nap. Invariably then, she failed her final exams which put her in a precarious position with her nursing program. And, while it was decided that she would not be kicked out, the dean of nursing did determine that Lacey would need to repeat her semester since the final exam had counted as such a large part of her grade.

The setback in her education as well as the need for Danny to put off his own caused a gradual strain in their marriage. The atmosphere at home became markedly tense as Lacey and Danny began to snipe at one another about everything, wrongly taking their frustration and personal failures out on each other. Silence began to permeate their once happy marriage and with it a loss of intimacy. But when they began to question the wisdom of getting married in the first place, speculating that perhaps their families had been right about them being too young, that was the moment Judy Porter stepped in to give them both a needed reality check.

She reminded them that marriage was a lifelong commitment and they couldn't break it simply because it had gotten difficult. She also told them that marriage was a partnership that thrived on compromise, sacrifice and, most of all, teamwork. Neither of them could afford to waste time blaming the other person for what had gone wrong. Instead, they needed to work together to find a solution to fix the problem. If they truly valued their marriage, she argued, they would be willing to put aside their pride and anger in order to stay together.

"It's only over when the two of you give up," she told them both sagely. In the end, that was the last thing either of them wanted and so they didn't. They didn't give up.

They put more effort into talking out their frustrations without assigning blame and spent less time stewing in resentment for circumstances that were beyond their control. They made a concerted effort to remember the qualities that they loved about each other rather than dwelling on the ones that were less desirable. They focused on building each other up and, in turn, that built up their marriage.

Progress was slow and they had their share of setbacks but gradually communication between them improved, spurred on by the realization that they were still madly in love with each other and their desire to spend forever together had not changed. By the time Kara was eight months old, Danny and Lacey were back on track academically and personally though there were still a few things between them that hadn't fallen completely into place. They were getting along and working better as a team but they still weren't having sex. Five months of enforced abstinence made it awkward to broach the subject.

Still, Danny thought about it constantly. He woke in the morning aching with frustration. Plainly stated, he wanted to screw his wife but he wasn't entirely certain how she felt about it. Most days Lacey seemed preoccupied and exhausted. She was more than eager to cuddle with him at night but sex seemed to be the furthest thing from her mind. Having an infant underfoot constantly didn't exactly make seduction ideal either. Danny was beginning to wonder if a lack of sex was simply a bi-product of marriage and family when Lacey disabused him of that notion entirely.

On a night like any other, he was cooking dinner while Lacey studied for an upcoming exam. He was distracted with splitting his attention between his simmering spaghetti sauce and the news that he didn't realize she had crept up behind him until she slipped her arms around his waist. Danny smiled when he felt her press a kiss to his shoulder blade.

"I thought you were studying."

"Not anymore," she hummed against his back.

He thought she would leave it at that but instead she slipped her hands beneath the soft cotton of his t-shirt and began coasting her fingers over his warm skin. Danny went still as Lacey feathered light caresses over his nipples, causing them to tighten with arousal. His breath caught in his throat when she dipped her hands lower to begin working on the button at his waistband. Danny groaned aloud when he felt her fingers slide into his boxer shorts.

"What are you doing?" he asked her breathlessly.

Lacey fondled his growing erection, causing his breath to hitch further. "Obviously, it's been a long time if you don't know," she teased him softly, "What does it _feel_ like I'm doing?"

"It feels like you want me," he whispered.

She hummed her agreement against his back and that was all the encouragement Danny needed. He immediately switched off the burner and turned to pull her against him for a voracious kiss. "How much time do we have?" he panted, throwing a cursory glance at the playpen where their daughter slept in between ripping off his and Lacey's clothing.

"She shouldn't be hungry for another hour," Lacey replied between kisses, "Which gives us plenty of time if you make it quick."

They ended up sinking onto the carpet, coming together right in the middle of the living room. Lacey impatiently nudged Danny onto his back and straddled him, pausing only briefly to reach for his discarded jeans and rifle around in his wallet for the condom she knew he kept there. When she found the foil package, she ripped it open and quickly rolled the latex into place.

"No more babies," she whispered as she positioned herself over him.

Danny sank inside of her with a gratified curse. "No more babies," he gasped in agreement.

By the time Kara was twenty two months old, the Desai family had adopted a steady routine. They were busy but they were happy. Lacey was near to finishing her fourth semester of nursing school and would soon begin her clinicals. Danny was interning at his own company while also pursuing an online business degree. Meanwhile, as Kara approached two years of age, she entered the typical phase of curiosity and discovery, constantly testing the limits of her autonomy. Like most two years old, Kara Desai expertly mastered the finality of the word "no" and became the veritable queen of temper tantrums.

Not surprisingly, Danny proved to be the easygoing parent, the one most likely to indulge Kara's childish whims. He didn't like to see her cry and was often a sucker for her trembling lower lip. Lacey, on the other hand, was the disciplinarian, the law-giver and the boundary setter. She was very rarely affected by Kara's woobie face. That wasn't to say, however, that she wasn't, on occasion, reduced into a compliant puddle at the sight of her daughter's big, brown eyes or that Danny failed to give the defiant toddler a swat or two on the bottom when it was warranted. But, for the most part, they assumed complimentary parenting styles. And as time went on, however, Kara continued to remind them that life was always subject to change.

Once Kara finally graduated to a big girl bed and was sleeping more regularly in her own room, Lacey and Danny mistakenly believed their marital privacy would be restored. They realized their error in judgment one morning when they awakened to Kara wedged between them. Her tiny arm was thrown haphazardly across her mother's face. Her tiny leg was hooked over her father's neck. Kara was thoroughly content exactly where she was. Her parents, however, realized they needed to set a few ground rules.

They also learned, much to their mortification, that sleeping in the nude was no longer an option...at least not if they kept their door unlocked because Kara didn't fully appreciate the need to knock. That also left them fumbling to provide an explanation for her as to why Mommy and Daddy needed to be naked to "play a game." Raising a child proved to be an adventure neither of them could have anticipated. Together, Lacey and Danny stumbled their way through the nuances of potty training, teaching the concept of privacy, vegetable appreciation, night terrors, bedwetting, modeling clean language (since Kara picked up on the f-bomb with disturbing swiftness) and finally stranger danger. That was also the point when Kara taught her father all about true fear.

Danny hadn't spoken to his father in more than three years by the time Kara had her 3rd birthday and, by then, Vikram Desai had been mostly put out of his mind. It wasn't that Vikram hadn't attempted to reach out to him numerous times during that interval but Danny had never responded to any of his overtures. He remained unconcerned with Vikram Desai altogether until the day came when his father made that impossible.

It had happened during Kara's birthday party. The entirety of the Kincaid family and even some of Lacey's maternal relatives had made the trip to Green Grove to celebrate Kara's third birthday. They had held the event in a local kiddie restaurant, specifically equipped for those types of parties. Mascots, pizza, cake and games complete with flashing lights abounded. It had been easy to lose track of Kara as she bounced from one activity to another with her various cousins. Really, Danny hadn't considered he had anything at all to worry about until he went looking for his daughter in the crawl maze and found her near the slide exit talking to his father.

Fear welled within him like hot, suffocating vapor. Danny reacted on pure instinct when he saw them together and dove forward to snatch Kara up in a protective embrace. He cradled the startled three year old close to him and crooned a few words of comfort to her before rounding on Vikram with a livid glare filled with suspicion and panic.

"What are you doing here?" he spat, "Who said that you could talk to her? I swear if you laid so much as a _finger_ on her-,"

"Danny, relax," Vikram replied mildly, "Don't be angry. She's my granddaughter. I would never hurt her. I love her. I just wanted to see her."

"She's nothing to you!" Danny grated fiercely, "You don't come near her. You don't talk to her! You don't _think_ about her! You got it?"

Vikram remained calm in the face of Danny's volatile reaction. "She's a Desai. I'm in her blood. I'm in _your_ blood, whether you want to acknowledge that or not."

Fortunately, Lacey, Jo and Archie arrived on the scene before Danny could give into the primal urge to beat Vikram senseless in front of his three year old daughter. Instead, he made it clear to Vikram after Lacey had whisked Kara out of earshot that if he ever approached Kara again, Danny would not hesitate to kill him.

"It's not an idle threat either. Remember that I'm a Desai too," he finished in ominous threat, "You know I'm capable."

When he found Lacey and Kara together afterwards, Lacey was in the middle of soothing their tearful toddler because Kara wrongly believed that _she_ had done something to make her father angry. Danny knelt down before her and lovingly drew her into his arms. "Sweetie, no, I'm not mad at you," he reassured her softly, "You're my baby girl and I love you. But we talked about how it was important that you not talk to strangers. Remember?"

"But...but he wasn't a stranger, Daddy," she sniffled, "He showed me pictures of you when you were little like me. He said he was my...my grandpa."

"He _is_ your grandpa," Danny told her, "and he's a very bad man. I don't spend time with him because of that, so that makes him a stranger to you, Kara. Okay? Do you understand?"

She nodded her compliance but it was clear to Danny she didn't fully understand. She confirmed his suspicion with her next question. "What did he do that was bad? He was nice to me."

"I'll explain it to you when you're old enough to understand," Danny said after exchanging a helpless look with Lacey, "In the meantime, I want you to be safe. You have to tell me or Mommy if he ever approaches you again. You have to scream really loud."

"As loud as I want?" the articulate toddler ventured, her brown eyes wide with disbelief, "And Mommy won't get mad?"

Lacey dropped a reassuring kiss to the curly crown of her daughter's head. "As loud as you want, baby."

It wasn't enough to prepare Kara for the possibility that Vikram might approach her again, however. Danny also put a restraining order in place which made it a criminal offense for Vikram to be within twenty feet of him or his family. He and Lacey put further precautions in place so that only specific persons, aside from them, were authorized to pick Kara up from daycare. They remained hyper-vigilant and aware of their surroundings and, for a while, Danny's paranoia reasserted itself with a vengeance. He was wary of anyone he didn't know showing any measure of interest in his child. But, eventually, after several months, the fear calmed down a bit and the Desai family unit resumed their usual routine.

Danny once again consented to Kara having playdates with her classmates in the local park. He stopped being fearful of her attending birthday parties where he wasn't in attendance. Eventually, the nightmares he had about Vikram stealing away his daughter and using her as a replacement for Tara began to lessen in frequency. He never rid himself of the fear entirely but it stopped plaguing his every waking moment. He was able to enjoy his life again and, most importantly, he was able to enjoy his family. That was the reason that, on the day of his wife's long anticipated graduation, Danny Desai could feel nothing else but unbounded joy and a deep sense of accomplishment.

Once Lacey was finished receiving her diploma and was later able to join her family after the commencement ceremony had concluded, Danny patiently hung back while she accepted various congratulatory hugs from her father, countless uncles, aunts, grandparents and finally her mother. When all of that was done only he and Kara were left and when Lacey finally hugged them, she held them like she never wanted to let them go. Kara smacked several kisses to Lacey's cheek.

"Mommy, we're so proud of you because you're going to be a nurse now!" she chimed excitedly, "Grandmama cried but I didn't. I was a big girl."

"I'll bet you were," Lacey commended her affectionately.

Kara leaned in close and added in a conspiratorial whisper, "Daddy cried too but he pretended he had something in his eye."

Danny set his daughter on her feet and fixed her with a mock glare of betrayal. "Traitor." He favored his wife with a happy grin. "You did good, Lace. I really am proud of you."

"I couldn't have done it without your support, Danny. Thank you."

He brushed a sweet kiss across her lips. "You don't have to thank me. I love you."

True to form, Kara broke up her parents' tender moment with alacrity and not a hint of remorse. "Hello? Can we go to the park now?" she demanded impatiently, already tugging on Lacey's arm and steering her towards the nearest exit, "I waited and waited! Can we go now? This graduation is boring! Let's go now so Auntie Jo can teach me how to fly a kite!"

They didn't get there quite as fast as Kara wanted but after stopping by home for a quick change of clothing, the entire side of Judy's family and even Lacey's father made their way out to the local park for a celebratory cookout where Jo was already waiting for them with a colorful new kite in tow. Danny and Lacey spread out a blanket onto the grass and watched as Jo and Kara scampered off together, chattering excitedly to each other the entire way.

"Jo's really good with her," Danny remarked as he stretched out and situated his head in Lacey's lap, "I guess I didn't expect them to become so close."

"Neither did I," Lacey murmured, "Kara loves her a lot. It's not quite as horrible as I imagined."

Danny tipped a glance up at her. "Did you really think having Jo in our lives was going to be horrible?"

"I guess not completely," she replied sheepishly, "I had my reservations though. But I can admit that maybe I misjudged her a little. Even though I've tried really hard not to like Jo all of these years, she's still managed to win my respect somehow. She makes it really difficult to hate her. But I'm still not calling her my friend!"

"What would be the point? She only has dinner at our house every other week in addition to being our daughter's godmother," Danny drawled ironically, "Why would you need to?"

"Okay, I like her!" Lacey grumbled, "But just a little bit! And don't you dare tell her!"

Danny made a dramatic cross over his heart. "I will take it to my grave."

They watched together in contented silence as Jo patiently instructed Kara on the proper way to hold a kite and how to send it airborne. It took several tries before Kara found success and, once she did, she stopped to wave wildly at her parents in triumph, her childish voice carrying over the hill towards them. "Look at me, Mommy and Daddy! I did it! Look at me! I'm a kite flyer!" They laughed together as she ran in zigzag patterns all across the park with Jo chasing after her tirelessly.

"We should have another one," Danny remarked. His wistful sigh became a surprised yelp a split second later when Lacey pinched his upper arm in response. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Don't you dare put something like that into the atmosphere," she admonished him tartly, "I still have to take my boards, pass them and then find a job after that. The last thing I need is to get pregnant again, Danny!"

"Well, I wasn't talking about _right now_."

"It doesn't matter. As soon as you say something like that out loud disaster is imminent. My ovaries start tingling in anticipation."

He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "So I make your ovaries tingle, huh?"

Lacey rolled her eyes with a laughing grunt. "Shut up."

"What about next year?" he posited in concession, "Can we talk about having another baby next year then? I want to give Kara a baby brother or sister."

The smile she had been fighting finally broke through at his request. "Yeah, we can talk about it then."

Danny started to pull her to him to seal their deal with a kiss when something landed on his stomach and then bounced to the ground. "What the hell..." He rooted around in the grass to find a black, velvet box and when he looked up Archie was standing above him. He briefly flipped open the box to peruse the gleaming diamond within and then showed the platinum band to Lacey, who whistled in appreciation.

"So you're finally going to do it," Danny surmised with a wide grin, passing the ring box back to his best friend, "It's about time."

"Hopefully you don't decide to propose by tossing the box at her head," Lacey teased Archie dryly after he dropped down beside them on their blanket, "Probably not the best approach."

"Better than doing it buck naked with balls swinging," Archie wisecracked with a pointed look at them both, "And I have a ring."

"Kiss my ass, Yates," Danny retorted with a good-natured grin, "At least I asked my woman. What's your excuse?"

"It's a big decision! Are you sure you guys don't think I'm being too rash with this?" Archie fretted, "Jo still has to get through med school and you know how she is about staying super focused. What if she says 'no?'"

"She's not going to say no," Danny and Lacey replied simultaneously.

"But how do I know this is the real thing?" Archie lamented, "How do I know that she loves me for who I am now and she's not just caught up in what we had in the past?"

"Archie, you've been together for five years now," Danny reasoned, "It's pretty obvious by this point that it's real. Stop hesitating. Someone once told me that I needed to bite the bullet and get over it. I'm passing that same advice on to you now."

Archie wagged a disapproving finger at him. "That's low," he tsked, "using my own words against me."

"Doesn't make them any less true."

"I don't know...marriage is hard and scary," Archie countered, "You and Lacey taught me that. If it almost broke you guys down, what the hell will it do to me and Jo?"

Lacey nudged him with an affectionate smile. "It will make you stronger, just like it did me and Danny," she told him firmly, "It will make you love her more than you already do. So ask her to marry you already!"

"And you don't mind? It won't be stealing your thunder on your special day?"

"Ask her. I think it would be the perfect ending to my special day."

"Okay," he sighed, rolling to his feet, "Wish me luck."

Once Archie started up the hill, Danny also shifted to his feet with the intention of following him. "I'd better go get the peanut," he determined with a sigh, "I doubt Archie wants to propose with a chatty four year old underfoot." Before he could turn away, however, he caught sight of Lacey's wistful expression. He stooped lower to regard her more closely. "What is it?" he asked softly, noting the tears gathering in her eyes.

Lacey compressed her lips, causing her dimples to deepen as she tried to maintain her composure. "It's just...I can't believe we almost didn't have this, that I even considered getting rid of her. I can't believe we almost lost what we had for a second time."

"But we didn't. We're here together and we're alive and we have a beautiful daughter."

"Only because the gods willed it," she considered thoughtfully, "And not just for us either..." She nodded towards the hill where Archie and Jo were swinging their squealing daughter back and forth. Kara's peals of ecstatic laughter drifted over to Lacey, washing over her like cleansing rain. "It was for them too."

Danny smiled at her and dropped a light kiss to her nose. "I thought you didn't believe in gods."

"How else do you explain it?"

"Love conquers all, I guess," Danny ventured with a shrug, "With a little bit of divine intervention too."

Lacey nudged him playfully. "Aha! So you do still believe the gods brought us together."

"How could I not?" he reasoned, "Once I met you, Lacey... _once I knew you_ , how could I see you as anything other than an incredible gift? You were a blessing that was especially for me. You saved my life, in more ways than you will ever understand."

Her voice trembled with wonder and awe when she asked, "Is that really how you see me?"

"Every day," he replied, leaning in for a confirming kiss, "since the moment we met."

 **The End**


End file.
